December 1976

29th year

LU

2.80 French
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THE SCYTHIAN 31

nomad goldsmiths

of the open
steppes

iil

<J

I
*~ "i

]\

mfr

The saint with a dog's head

TREASURES

There are many legends about St. Christopher, including one that he once carried Christ across a

OF

accounts he was a giant with a dog's face, only receiving human features at baptism. Other stories

river, thus earning his name (Christofros in Greek, meaning ''bearer of Christ"). According to some
relate

WORLD

ART

that St.

Christopher, an

exceptionally good-looking

man who

lived

in the 3rd century,

received such frequent attentions from the fair sex that he begged God to save him from temptation.
His prayer was answered by a miracle: from then on women who looked upon his handsome face
saw only the head of a dog. St. Christopher was thus often depicted with a dog's head, as in
this fresco painted in 1779 by a Greek artist in a 13th-century Byzantine church at Lindos, on
the island of Rhodes.

Greece
Photo O

Hannibal Slides. Athens

Page

Courier

THE SCYTHIAN WORLD

A dynamic culture on the steppes of. Eurasia 2,500 years ago

By Boris B. Piotrovsky

DECEMBER 1976

29TH YEAR

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PAZYRYK

A nomad way of life "deep-frozen" for 25 centuries

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GREECE: The saint with the dog's head

Cover

Assistant Editors

English

Edition : Roy Malkin

French

Edition : Philippe Ouanns

Spanish Edition : Jorge Enrique Adoum

Illustrations : Anne-Marie

'

<

Horsemen repose in the shade of a leafy tree.

of their two mounts while the other lies outstretched with his head
in the lap of a seated woman.
This scene from the life of the nomads

Maillard t
v4>

Research : Christiane Boucher

Layout and Design : Robert Jacquemin

"^

o 7

One holds the bridle

of the steppes is depicted on a symmetrical pair of gold plaques once

worn on a sword-belt and preserved among the treasures of the art
collection of Tsar Peter the Great.
They are one of the myriad ex
amples of the Creative genius of the artists of the steppes, homelands

of Scythian and Siberian horsemen 2,500 years ago.

This issue of

All correspondence should be addressed

the Unesco Courier is entirely devoted to this cultural universe which

to the Editor-in-Chief in Paris

flourished in Antiquity at the crossroads of Asia and Europe.

This golden stag (see detail in

colour, page 23) is a superb
example of typical Scythian
animal art.

Discovered in a

tomb in the Kuban region,

north-east of the Black Sea, it

was made by a master-goldsmith

of the steppes early in the 6th
century B.C.
In the words of
the Soviet archaeologist,

SCYTHIAN WORLD

Aleksandr Shkurko, an authority

on early Scythian art, "The artist

was not unduly concerned with
modelling the animal's body or
adding precise detail.
What
held his attention was its inner

qualities its strength, speed and

essential wildness.

The

decorative treatment of the horns

and the compactness of the

composition confer on the image
an almost heraldic appearance."
The stag was a favourite theme
in the art of the Scythians.

by
Boris B.

BORIS

Soviet

Piotrovsky

BORISOVICH

archaeologist,

is

PIOTROVSKY,

an

Internationally

known authority on the history and art of

the Scythians.
A member of the Academies
of Sciences of the

U.S.S.R.

and the Arme

nian S.S.R., he is Director of the Hermitage

Museum (Leningrad) which has a priceless

collection of Scythian artifacts.
He is also
professor of Ancient Oriental History at the
Leningrad State University.
The author of
important studies on the history, culture
and art of the ancient Orient and the Cau

casus, Prof. Piotrovsky is a corresponding

fellow of the British Academy, the French
Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,
and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

THE sweep and substance of

the Scythian world have only
recently been fully revealed,

although the existence of the Scy

thians was recorded long ago, and
they should not be regarded as one
of the forgotten peoples of history.
Herodotus, writing about them in
the fifth century B.C., included in his
detailed account a number of Scythian
or Greek legends concerning their
origins, and stated that the lands
which they occupied had previously
belonged to the Cimmerians.

The

flatlands

north

of

the

Black

Sea, home of the Scythians who

caught Herodotus' attention when
they came down to do business in
the Greek trading-colonies on the
coast,
are studded with kurgans.
These burial mounds of earth, erected

by the various nomadic tribes which

roamed across the steppes, were
themselves the subject of many a
legend, and the treasure-seekers who
plundered them in the past were
certainly rewarded on more than one
occasion.

a dynamic culture on thi steppes

of Eurasia 2500 years ago

thians) the scabbard and hilt of which

been found in Siberian kurgans and

sent as gifts to Peter the Great in
1715 and 1716 by Nikita Demidov,

were decorated in the ancient Eastern

the owner of mines and metalworks

style
with
fantastic
animals and
anthropomorphic
deities,
gathered

in the Urals, and by the Governor of

Tobolsk, Prince Gagarin. In 1718, a
special government decree ordered
"the collecting from earth and water
of old inscriptions, ancient weapons,
dishes
and
everything
old
and

Many of them had been built by

the Scythians, and it was here that
the first
archaeologists unearthed
outstanding examples of an art form
characteristic of Scythian culture and
dating mainly from the fifth to the

silver objects, including an iron akinakes (the short dagger of the Scy

third centuries B.C. Since then, hard

round

ly a year has passed without the de

light of fresh discoveries by Ukrainian
archaeologists.

resting

Excavations began a considerable

time ago. In 1763, a rich burial
mound of the early Scythian period

by Peter the Great in 1714.

unusual."

The
Kunstkammer already con
tained a number of gold objectslater identified as Scythianwhich had

and mysterious collection of Siberians

antiquities", as it was still called byr

near Elizavetgrad (now Kirovograd)

yielded a large number of gold and

sacred

finds

Kunstkammer,
museum,

tree.

were

which

These

placed

Russia's
had

in

first

inte

the
real

been founded

The

Kunstkammer's

"marvellous

early nineteenth-century archaeolo

gists, was only explained and iden
tified when archaeological investiga
tions over a wide area gradually revea
led a considerable degree of cultural
unity in the wide belt of steppe-land,
foothills and upland pastures which
stretched between the 40th and 50th

parallels of latitude, from the Danube

in the west all the way to the Great
Wall of China in the easta distance

of more than 7,000 kilometres.

From

one end to the other of this

territory, archaeologists have unear

thed identical pieces of horse gear,
iron swords, triangular arrowheads
and ornaments, all dating from the
Scythian period, while cultural simi
larities
between
different
regions
are reflected in the widespread use
of imagery in the so-called "ScythoSiberian animal style."
But

these

links

existed

even ear

lier, and can certainly be clearly

detected in the pre-Scythian, Cim
merian period (i.e. the eighth century

B.C.).

Convincing

evidence of this

and
highly
mobile horse-soldiers,
whose rapidly moving war-parties,
according to Herodotus, penetrated
deep into Asia Minor.
Herodotus'

been

accounts

confirmed

in particular.
Reports by scouts of
the Assyrian king contained in the
archive of clay tablets found in the
Assyrian capital, Nineveh, refer to
the appearance of Cimmerians in
Asia Minor as early as the middle of
the 8th century B.C.

The participation of Scythians in

a devastating attack on Assyria a
century
later
is
mentioned
in
a
chronicle of the
Babylonian king
Nabopolassar
in
616-609

which relates
B.C.,
and in

Movses Horenatsi.

Excavations in seventh-century for

tresses in Transcaucasia (at KarmirMY KINGDOM
FOR A HORSE

This ruined tomb of a military leader

yielded not only a number of items

Some Scythian jewels

reveal numerous details

of the dress, way of life

Bulgaria, but also scraps of woven

cloth of Iranian origin, pre-dating
by almost 200 years the famous
Iranian carpet discovered during exca
vations of the Pazyryk kurgans of the

nomads of the steppes.

The two bearded Scythian
riders decorating the
ends of this torque, or

Altai (see article page 31).

open necklace, of twisted

ditions already existed for the esta

blishment of contacts between widely
separated territories,
and for the
creation of a generalized, semi-noma
dic and stock-raising economy, in
which

the

dominance

of

horse-

breeding permitted mobility over long

distances.

The network of relationships bet

ween different tribes made up for the
lack

of

natural

resources,

and

of

metal deposits in particular, in diffe

rent regions.
The vast area covered
by Scythian culture, where the most
outstanding artifacts were made of
gold, silver or high-quality bronze,
contained
few
enough
localities
where

the first two

could

be

found,

of these

while

tin,

metals

without

which copper could not be transfor

med

into

bronze "and which existed

in Central Europe and Bohemia, was

totally absent in the lands stretching
from

the

Danube

as

far

as eastern

Kazakhstan.

Of course, there was no direct or

permanent contact between the no

madic tribes inhabiting the western
and eastern extremities of this world;

the elements which composed their

common culture were, so to speak,
"shuttled"

losing

from

their

tribe

stamp

to tribe, often

of origin in the

process.

We

should

also

remember

that

these breeders of cattle and horses,

whether

Cimmerians

or

Scythians,

werefirst and foremostwell-armed

events
a
5th

century account of the sack of Nin

eveh,
by the Armenian historian

far to the east (see article page 38).

Thus, in Cimmerian times, the con

since

Eastern

sources, and by documentary and

archaeological evidence from Assyria

is provided by the objects found in

the Arzhan kurgan in the Tuva S.S.R.,

similar to finds from the Ukraine and

have

by ancient

and customs of these

gold are one example.

The figures wear
ankle-length caftans tied
at the waist and long
trousers held by a strap
beneath the boot.

They ride bareback and

without stirrups.
Their
mounts emerge from
the ends of the torque,
woven of six gold strands
bound in an intricately
decorated sheath inlaid
with enamel.

The

horses' manes and the

harnesses and bridle bits

are rendered with great

precision.
The torque,
of Greco-Scythian style
and weighing over
260 grammes, was found
in 1830.

It encircled

the neck of a chieftain

in a 4th century B.C.

grave in the Crimea.

Blur,

near Erivan)

and in the central

region of ancient Urartu, near Lake

Van (in present-day Turkey), have
brought to light a number of items of
horse gear, iron weapons and beads
similar to objects found in ancient
Scythian burials of the Black Sea
region.

The Scythian connexion with Asia

Minor is clearly reflected in the socalled "Ziwiyeh treasure" from Saqqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, discovered

during
the
Second
World War.
Among the objects found here, which
were

subsequently

come

not from

a treasure hoard but

from

constructed

tomb

proved

to
in

have
the

seventh century B.C., is an outstand

ing group of artifacts in which images
characteristic

Eastern

and

of

both

ancient

Scythian

art

Near

are

combined.

The golden objects in Scythian

style found at Ziwiyeh are similar to
finds from Scythian burial mounds,
such as the sword with a gold-covered

hilt and scabbard unearthed in 1763

in the Elizavetgrad (Kirovograd) kurgan in the Ukraine, and the goldhandled

sword

and

axe

from

the

Kelermes kurgans in the Kuban re

gion, excavated in 1902.

applied to a large number of ethni

cally unrelated tribes, characterized
by a strong Iranian influence in their
personal and place-names.
Its appli
cation is frequently limited to the

tribes inhabiting the coastal flatlands

of the Black Sea region.

All these objects combine Scythian

motifs (reclining deer) with ancient

Eastern imagery (the holy tree with
its

attendant

animals),

and

divinities and fantastic

it is probably correct

But archaeologists
have shown
that the early Scythian monuments
of this region are related to ancient
steppe cultures which go back as far

to consider that they are imitations of

Urartean artifacts, modified by the

as the

addition of elements in purely Scy

thian style.

is used in a broader sense, including

in the "Scythian" world a vast mass
of tribes sharing the same economic
and cultural existence and spread

Attempts have been made to re

late the birth of Scythian art to the
period of Scythian
campaigns in
Asia Minor, but this theory is dispro

ved by the examples of Scythian and

pre-Scythian art discovered in Si
beria, which pre-date those from
Ziwiyeh (i. e. 7th century B.C.), but
are also decorated in the animal style.

The term "Scythian" is nowadays

nium

middle
B.C.

of the

In

this

second millen

article

the term

over a much wider area.

ries B.C., the steppelands between

the Don, the Volga and the Urals
the

home

of a

culture

similar

to that of the Black Sea Scythians.

The bearers of this culture, whom the
Greeks

called

Sarmatians,

were

in

turn linked with the tribes of Eastern

whose

own

culture

is

tinsky kurgan.

These

links stretched

beyond the

steppes of Kazakhstan still further,

to the High Altai, whose frozen
burial mounds have yielded perfectly
preserved collections of objects made
of

wood,

bone,

felt

and

metal,

in

which Chinese, Iranian and Scythian

influences are clearly apparent.

The development of Scythian cul

ture

in

the

lands

north

of the Black

Sea was certainly affected

trading colonies which the
had

From the sixth to the third centu

were

Kazakhstan,

brilliantly represented by a series of

gold plaques depicting reclining deer,
found
in the sixth-century Chilik-

established

by the
Greeks

on the coast

at the

end of the seventh century B.C., but

the Greeks themselves had already
encountered Scythians whose culture
owed nothing to outside influences,
and the objects which their gold
smiths made specially for Scythian
customers can be easily distinguished
from purely Scythian artifacts.
Ob
jects of both types are now familiar
to us, as a result of excavations.

antiquities took place at the Kul Oba

kurgan near Kerch, on the straits
connecting the Black Sea to the Sea
of

Azov,

in

1830.

stone

vault

under the mound proved to contain

a rich burial of the fourth century
B.C. with an outstanding collection
of Greek-made jewellery.
Some of
the pieces, including a gold torque
decorated with figures of Scythian
horsemen, had obviously been made
specially for Scythian customers.

Of particular interest is a spheri

cally-shaped vase made of electrum

a natural gold-silver alloy), the body

of

which

is

decorated

with

four

groups of figures illustrating a Greek

legend of the founding of the Scy
thian dynasty, which Herodotus also
recorded.

The scenes on the vase (analysed

in detail in an article on pages 1 5 and
16) depict the efforts of the three
sons of Heracles (the Scythian Tar

gitaus) and a strange serpent-woma rr

med

bridle

found

in

the

Khomina

Mogila kurgan in 1970, whose de-'

corations include intricately engrav
ed plaques depicting animal heads.
The

contents

kurgan,

of

excavated

the

by

Chertomlyk

I.E.

Zabelin,

included a silver vase later to become

famous decorated

in

relief

with

figures of Scythian horse-breeders,

and an iron sword whose gold hilt,
depicting two calves' heads and a
hunting scene, is a splendid example
of Iranian decoration of the fifth cen

tury B.C.
This sword, which was possibly a

trophy from the Greco-Persian or

Scytho-Persian wars, was in a gold
scabbard of Greek manufacture depic

ting a battle with the Persians, simi

lar in composition to the scenes of
the

Battle

of

Marathon

which

decorate Greek temples of the fifth

and fourth centuries B.C.

Iranian (Achaemenid) objects were

no rarity in Scythian burial mounds.
One of the several burial crypts of
the Great Bliznitsa kurgan on the
Taman peninsula, excavated between
1864

and

1868,

contained two in

teresting objects of Near Eastern

origin : an Achaemenid seal-ring of
gold showing a king wrestling with
a lion; and an Egyptian amulet in
faience depicting the head of the
god Besa diminutive figure with
the

face

dress
This

of

of

monster and a head

feathers

amulet

or

could

palm-fronds.

have

arrived

via

Iran, like the Egyptian alabaster ves

sel with hieroglyphic and cuneiform

inscriptions
mentioning the
name
of the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes
discovered

WARRIORS AND LIONS figure

on this splendid 4th century B.C.
gold comb from a Scythian tomb
at Solokha, on the lower Dnieper,
in the Ukraine.
The group of
combatants and the five

crouching lions beneath them

are worked in relief on both

sides giving the illusion of being

sculptured in the round.
One
warrior has been unhorsed and

goddess
shall

to

lead

first

to

decide
the

bend

which

tribe,

by

bow

left

mother by their father.

brothers

fail

the

test,

of them
being
with

the
their

Two of the
collecting

in

the process nasty injuries typical of

clumsy bowmanship, but Scythes,
the youngest, succeeds.

Excavations of a great number of

his mount lies helpless on the

kurgans in the coastal steppes around

ground.

the

The three bearded

warriors are Scythians, but

the Greek goldsmith who made

the four-inch wide comb added
Greek elements to the work,

including the helmets and the

armour (see also article page 1 5).

Black Sea, in the Crimea and in

the Northern Caucasus, during the

last half of the nineteenth century,

brought to light a number of magni

ficent examples of specifically Scy
thian

art,

and

of

Greek craftsman

ship commissioned by the Scythians.

Typical Scythian motifs s were the
reclining deer with branch-like antlers
and the panther, which possibly ser
ved as tribal symbols.
These ani
mals decorate the solid gold plaques
on
shields found in sixth-century
kurgans in the Kuban region; they
were also regularly depicted in the
decorations on quivers.
Links between the Scythians and
their western and southern neigh
bours are clearly reflected in the finds
from the kurgans.
Scythian burials
in the Ukraine have yielded a number
of Thracian objects, an outstanding
example of which is the silver-trim

in

the

southern

Urals.

Scythian culture thus reflects the

relations with neighbouring and dis
tant

lands

which

establishment

Eastern
the

Europe

wide

contributed

of

the

and

east-west

link

the

to the

between

Far

corridor

East,
which

was already open in the middle of

the last millennium of the pre-Chris
tian era and which, until the sixteenth
century A.D., would form the famous
Silk Route leading from the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean, through
Iran,

Central

Asia and

Chinese Tur

kestan to the banks of the Hwang Ho

river.
The world of the Scythians

fully

deserves

its

place

in

ancient

history.
Boris B. Piotrovsky

ANTIQUITY'S GREAT

modern archaeology
confirms the stories

REPORTER HISTORIAN

of Herodotus

AMONG THE SCYTHIANS

by

Yaroslav V. Domansky

AROUND the middle of the 5th

native

B.C.,

named

Herodotus

city of

Minor,
were

century

and

left

Halicarnassus

began

to take

a young man

the

his

in Asia

travels that

him from the western

Mediterranean to Mesopotamia.

Vast distances lay ahead of him,

separating many different lands and
peoples : through the Aegean to the
islands of the Archipelago and the
towns

of

the

Peloponnesus;

east

wards to Babylon; westwards as far

as Sicily; southwards to Egypt and
the

banks

through
Thrace.
arrived

of

the

Nile;

northwards

the Balkan peninsula to

And
one
day Herodotus
in

Olbia,

one

of

the

most

northerly of the Greek city-colonies,

on

the

shores

of

the

Black

Sea.

Founded
a
century-and-a-half
earlier on the estuary of the river

Bug, Olbia was thriving, and fully

living up to its name ("olbia", in
Greek, meant "prosperous").
But
although
he was
usually
curious
about
everything,
neither
Olbia's present nor its past parti
cularly interested the young man
from

Halicarnassus

as

he

stood

on

the
city walls.
He was looking
outwards, over the vast plain which
stretched away into the distance.

Somewhere

out

there,

beyond

the
horizon,
lived
the Scythians,
the people who, after an exhausting
war, had finally humiliated Darius,
king of the Persians.
The Greeks themselves had resis-i

ted the Persian invaders for many!

YAROSLAV VITAL'EVICH DOMANSKY,

a leading Soviet historian and archaeologist,

is

senior member of the staff of the Her

mitage Museum in Leningrad.

on

the

antiquities

the Black Sea,

of the

An authority

region

north

of

about which he has written

a number of works, he has excavated many

sites along the lower reaches of the river Bug

in the Ukraine.

L years,

and it was Herodotus' ambi-'

' tion to write the history of that war.

Obviously, the Scythians must come
into the story.

There were a great number of

people in Olbia who had spent their
lives in the steppes, who had tra
velled the length and breadth of the
lands

north

of the

Black Sea,

and

who had many a tale to tell about

the world of the Scythians, so dif

A PLEDGE
OF

BROTHERHOOD

Like many pieces of Scythian

jewellery, this gold
ornamental plaque for
clothing reveals a custom
among the nomads of the
steppes.
It shows two

Scythians making a pledge

of life which he had known at home

of everlasting brotherhood in
a ritual also described by
Herodotus.
They kneel nose
to nose, their profiles joined
together, and hold a single
horn-shaped vessel in which
they have mingled drops of

fascinated

their blood with wine.

ferent from that of the Greeks.

Herodotus was an attentive listen

er,

and the contrasts with the way

him.

He

wanted

to

write
about
all
things
unusual,
leaving nothing out, and so he col
lected all these talesincluding the
unlikely onesfrom his Greek and
Scythian informants, one of whom,
a certain Tymnes, had actually been
a man of confidence of the Scythian
king Ariapeithes.
What

Herodotus

saw

for

himself

in Olbia, and what he heard, formed

a colourful patchwork picture of the

Scythian world and Scythian ways,
in which the past and the present,
the important and the insignificant,

the possible and the highly improb

able jostled for space, and which
he would incorporate in the pages
of his History.
Thus, the first record of its kind,
by the man who has been called the
"Father of History", would contain

an account of one of the first peoples

identifiable by name to have inhabi
ted what is now part of the Soviet
Union.

Herodotus

was

in

Olbia

in

or

about the year 450 B.C. Five years

later, he was reading parts of his
manuscript to the citizens of Athens,
who were so impressed that they
offered him a grant of money to
continue with his project.
Let

us

listen

with

them

now to

the words of the narrator: "Their land

is

level,

well-watered,

and abound

ing in pasture"... "Having neither

cities nor forts, and carrying their
dwellings with them wherever they
go; accustomed, moreover, one and
all

of

them,

to

shoot

from

horse

back; and living not by husbandry

but their cattle, their waggons the
only homes that they possess..."
Thus

Herodotus

describes

the

nomadic
life
of
the
Scythians,
roaming in hordes over the "vastness
of the great plain" between the
Danube

and

the

Don,

women

and

children in the waggons and the men

on horseback, ready at any moment
to

defend

their

families

and

their

herds with their spears and with the

bows and arrows which they handled
with such skill.

Being "entirely bare of trees", the

land of the Scythians was "utterly
barren

their

of

stomach
it

in

with

10

firewood."

meat,

stuffed

into

the

of the animal, and cooked

cauldrons
the

They

haggis-wise,
over

animal's

own

fire

made

bones.

In

The symbolism whereby two

become one is also reflected

in the conception of the

plaque: when the two
profiles are viewed in

close-up (see enlarged detail,

opposite page) .they form a
single face.
This technique
of "split representation" is
relatively common in
Scythian animal art (see
colour photo page 28) but
is rarely found applied to
the human face.

remarkable example of the

Scythian goldsmiths'
virtuosity, this 4th century
B.C. plaque is less than
4 cms. high.

this way comments Herodotus, "the

ox is made to boil himself, and other
victims also do the like."

Drinkers of mare's milk, the Scy

thians were also copious quarters of

imported wine, which they never
diluted

with

Scythian

water.

style !"

"Serve

us

in

called the Greeks,

when the drink was flowing merrily.

True children of the steppe, the
Scythians were born herdsmen, al
though like their ancestors they also
hunted

wild

animals.

Herodotus

was mainly concerned with the no

mads,

but he also

Scythians
bandry".

were

noted that some

"engaged

in

hus

"Abundantly
provided
with the
most important necessaries", they
were

favoured

with

land watered

by many rivers, including the Borys-

thenes (the Dnieper) which, he tells

us, "has upon its banks the loveliest
and most excellent pasturage for
cattle; it contains abundance of the

most delicious fish; its water is most

pleasant to the taste; its stream is

limpid... the richest harvests spring
up along its course."

This sounds idyllic, but the life of

the Scythians was in reality a hard
one.

Mountain goats and rams frisking between flowers and palmettes

bordered by two twisted cords of gold (below) evoke the pastoral
life of nomad herdsmen who roamed the steppes 2,500 years ago in

an endless quest for water and pastureland.

Detail shown here is
the central motif of a gold pectoral (breast ornament) unearthed
in 1868 in a burial crypt of the Great Bliznitsa tomb near the Sea

of Azov.

This masterpiece was considered a matchless example of

Scythian jewellery until 1971, when an even more splendid

princely pectoral of similar style was discovered (see page 19).

Their

manners

and

customs

reflected a cruel age, and the "Father

of History" has left a detailed des
cription of the Scythians at war.
As pitiless with their enemies as
they were loyal to their friends, they
set great store by ritual oath-taking.
Parties to a treaty shed some of their
blood into a bowl filled with wine, and

then

plunged

into

the

mixture

"a

sword, some arrows, a battle-axe and

a
spear,
all the while repeating
prayers", after which the allies each
drank

from

the

bowl.

Herodotus noted with particular in

terest that the Scythians were not
much given to the use of "mages,
altars or temples", but he listed their
gods,
identifying them with their
Greek equivalents and mentioning
their role in the order of things.

Tahiti, whom the Greeks knew as

Hestia, protected the household. Papaeus (Zeus) was "very properly, in

my judgement", comments Herodo
tus charge of celestial affairs,
while his wife Apia dealt with more
earthly
matters.
The
Greek god
Heracles, known to the Scythians as

Targitaus, was believed to have been

the

first

man

ever

to

live

in their

country, the father of their people.

The Scythians sacrificed domestic
animals, and horses in particular, to
all these gods, as well as to Ares,

the god of war, the only divinity in

whose honour they erected altars, in
the form of huge piles of brushwood
topped with antique iron swords.
The

sacrificial

victims

included

not

only cattle and horses, but also one

out of every hundred of their prisoners
of war.

Scythia had "an abundance of |

soothsayers, who foretell the future I

11

i by
means of
bundles of willow
; wands".
When the king fell sick, it
was their task to identify the traitor
whose false oath by the king's hearth
had caused the illness, and who was

promptly
beheaded.
In
doubtful
cases, the king sought a second opi
nion;

if

the

accused

man

was ac

quitted, the unfortunate soothsayers

lost their own

heads.

The
Scythians
were
convinced
that there was a life beyond the grave,
picturing it as a continuation of what
had gone before.
Herodotus gives
us a detailed description of the royal
funerals,
when elaborate prepara-,
tions were

king

made

to

ensure

that the

lacked nothing in his after-life.

After digging a deep, rectangular

grave, the Scythians placed the em
balmed body of their king on a
waggon, and took it on a royal pro
gress
from
tribe
to
tribe.
The
mourners

cropped
arms,

mutilated

their

hair,

their

own

ears,

lacerated

their

forehead and nose, and thrust

an arrow through their left hands.

protect the burial mound.

Every Scythian was bound to res
pect his gods, and betrayal was
severely punished.
In Olbia, Herodo
tus heard the cautionary tale of Scylas, son and heir of the Scythian king
Ariapeithes, who "disliked the Scythie
mode of life,

and was attached, by

his up-bringing, to the manners of the

Greeks."
Scylas had installed one of
his wives, "who was a native of the

place", in a large house in Olbia, and

when he visited the city, as he did
frequently, he dressed in Greek clothes
and followed the Greek customs and

rites, even joining in the Bacchanalian

revels, which the Scythians consid
ered offensive.

to the "Father or History" for its

knowledge of the ancient world and,
more particularly, of the structure of
Scythian society.
Herodotus
could
obviously
not
have been expected to foresee that
this subject would be of such interest
to future historians, and to give the
matter more than a passing glance,
but his casual approach has it must
be admitted placed his successors
in a very difficult position.
So

much

of what he wrote about

the Scythians remains open to diffe

rent interpretations, and controversy
continues to bedevil any attempt by
modern

scholars

to

understand

his

writings and to relate them to other

Seeing him the worse for wear,

some kinsmen of Scylas told tales at
home, and the ensuing indignation
led to a revolt against Scylas, who
was obliged to decamp to Thrace.
But he soon fell into the hands of

his successor on the throne, and was

beheaded
without
further
delay.
"Thus rigidly do the Scythians main

sources.

According to Herodotus, the struc

ture of Scythian society was tribal,
and it is clear that ancient tribal links

could, on occasion, provoke united

action by all the kinsmen.
But this
bond had lost its earlier, all-embracing
significance, and the patriarchal fa
mily had become the basic social unit.
The customs of the Scythians reveal
a male-dominated society, under the
authority of the chief, with women
in a position of dependence.

Returning to the grave, they lower

the king into the ground on a
litter, which they surrounded with
a fence of spears.
Then they built a
ceiling of beams over the tomb, and
thatched it with a roof of twigs.

tain their own customs," wrote Hero

In the open space around the king,

they buried one of his concubines,
first killing her by strangling, "together
with his cup-bearer, his cook, his
groom, his lackey, his messenger,

frequently referred, in which they had,

Scythian society was not egalita

rian, but on the contrary, relatively
class-ridden.
Although most Scy

he

ed

some of his horses, firstlings of all

his other possessions, and some

golden cups..." Finally, says Hero

dotus, "they set to work, and raise
a vast mound over the grave, all of
them vying with each other and seek
ing to make it as tall as possible."
But

this was

not

the end of the

affair.
A year later, fifty of the late
king's attendants were strangled and
impaled on the backs of fifty slaught

dotus, "and thus severely do they

punish such as adopt foreign usages."

The Scythians fascinated Herodo

tus in many ways, but there was one

matter

in

particular,

to

which

he

themselves

thians were free men, irrespective of

wiser than any nation upon the face

of the earth...
The one thing of
which I speak, is the contrivance
whereby they make it impossible for
the enemy who invades them to
escape destruction, while they them
selves are entirely out of his reach,
unless it please them to engage with

personal power or wealth, there was

and activities are described by Hero

dotus, as well as a property-owning
and aristocratic minority, composed
of the leaders of the richest families,
the royal entourage and the warrior
chieftains, all under the supreme

him."

authority of the king.

considered,

"shown

Herodotus' tale of the Scythians

contains a wealth of historical, geo
graphical and ethnographical material.
His colourful account of the campaign
of Darius is embellished with digres

ered
horses.
Firmly
attached
to
stakes and arranged in a circle, this

sions

which

are

irrelevant

main

theme,

but

which

to

ghostly guard of honour was left to

extent to which posterity is indebted

reveal

the

the

also

slave class, whose existence

Scythia was ruled by tribal alliances.

At

the

time of the

century B.C., it was divided into

three kingdoms, under the overall
command of Idanthyrsus who had vir
tually unlimited power, whether in the
conduct of military affairs, the distri-

ELEGANT

HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS

Photo L Tarassova

Aurora Art Publishers,

Leningrad

Photos A. Bulgakov

O Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

12

Persian invasion

under Darius, at the end of the sixth

WHAT THE WELL-DRESSED

HORSEMAN WORE

How Scythian horsemen of 2,500 years ago

dressed and the kind of equipment they used

is now known to the last detail (drawing right).

This knowledge came with the discovery of a
remarkably preserved set of accoutrements buried
with a 5th-century-B. C. warrior in a Ukraine
tomb (below).

The conical helmet complete

with earflaps, the leather back-piece covered

with metal scales, the sword-belt of bronze

plaques and the breast-plate had all survived.

Some of this equipment is depicted on a stone
stele of the same period (left) as well as a long

sword, a sheathed dagger, a rhyton (horn-shaped

drinking cup) and a gorytus (quiver for bow and
arrows).

The warrior's outfit also included

leg armour laced to trousers which were tucked

into flat-soled felt boots.

y
i

"WV: i
..unir

/.

K|

bution

of

booty

or

the

destiny

of

individual Scythians, who could be

pressed into service at will and whose
disobedience
was
punishable
by
death.

We have already seen the fate

reserved for those who betrayed their
oath at the hearth of the king.
In

anticipation of the king's own demise,

their imprint on all that came after

wards.

substantial

stock

of

sacrificial

material, including slaves as well as

horses and precious objects, was kept
handy.

The Scythian king was above all a

military leader.
War, as a source of
prosperity, enabling the aristocrats to
acquire riches and wealth, was a
regular activity, and the life of the
Scythians, who were constantly' in
arms, was permeated with martial
arts, traditions and customs.

The technical mastery with which

the Scythians embellished even their
everyday objects is seen in their
cauldrons, knives, perfume braziers,
lamps, amphoras, jars, stools and a
variety of other elegantly wrought
utensils.
The three objects shown
at left are about 2,500 years old :
1

Bronze lamp to hold six wicks

(11 cms. high).

2

the

assemblies which

united

all

the

men-at-arms in discussion of matters

of importance and which as was pro

bably the case of the unfortunate
Scylas could decide the fate of the
king himself.

Bronze meat-strainer or sieve

used for lifting boiling meat from

the pot.
A wooden stick was
inserted in the hollow handle.

which

left

no

trace

behind

them.

But the little that we do know reflects

a dramatic destiny, full of variety and

conflict.

There

is

no

doubt

that

in

the

seventh century B.C., the Scythians

were the scourge of the East.
In

612 B.C., they had joined in sacking

the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.

Three

hundred years later they were to

suffer defeat at the hands of Philip of
Macedn.

In the
confirmed

sixth century, they had

their
independence
by

routing Darius and his Persian army;

at the end of the second century, the
Greeks

were

to

rout them

in

battle

after battle in the Crimea.

Bronze mirror (18 cms. diameter)

with fluted handle topped by a

panther.
3

This mass of warriors was capable

of bending the sovereign's will.
A
primitive form of democracy from
earlier times survived, for example, in

Altogether, the Scythians occupied

the stage of history for some thousand
years, about as long as Ancient Rome,
living through a series of experiences

Scythian society was full of contra

dictions.
With the exception of one
or two excursions into the past, Hero
dotus was writing about events in the
middle of the fifth century B.C., a
chapter of Scythian history which was
to be followed by many others.
It
was a period of change in all respects,
but the old ways of life had not been
entirely abandoned, and would leave

At the dawn of their history, they

had

mounted

almost

unbelievable

raids as far as Egypt; as the sun set,

they would be confined to a small
area of the Crimean steppe, the
horses on which they had ridden so
proudly throughout their history ex
changed for the tools of farmers.
w

Originally rejecting everything that f

13

reflected Hellas, they were finally to

mingle with the crowds in the Greek
trading-cities of the Black Sea coast.

Warriors who had smashed every

thing that lay in their path, they
would

value

artistic

creation,

and

become outstanding craftsmen them

selves.

And when, in the third century

A.D., Scythia and the ancient Scy
thians had ceased to exist, the oncename
remained,
and was

terrible

adopted by those who occupied their

former territories, including the early

they found quantities of wood-ash,

ashes from the hearths of at least one
settlement indicate that bones did on

occasion replace firewood.

In 1830, a new page was turned in

the history of the study of Scythian
antiquities when excavations began
at the Kul Oba kurgan near Kerch, on
the

the truth of Herodotus' tales could be

put to the test.

The study of Scythian antiquities

began soon after the lands north of
Black Sea became

Russian terri

tory.
Since then, a great number of
monuments have been investigated,
among the most important of which
are

the

famous

burial

mounds,

the

Black

Sea

lars ever since.

Under

Silence fell over the Scythians for

fifteen hundred years.
And then, at
the turn of the eighteenth-nineteenth
centuries, the past became the future,
as their monuments began to speak.
All manner of Scythian relics awaited
the spades of the archaeologists; the
time was rapidly approaching when'

between

have attracted the attention of scho

Slavs.

the

straits

and the Sea of Azov.

Among the
many objects brought to light was a
unique collection of articles which

the

mound

was

stone

crypt containing three bodies, buried

in the fourth century B.C., together
with a quantity of gold artifacts dec
orated in a manner never seen before

and depicting scenes in the life of a

warrior people whose clothes, head

gear and general appearance in no

way resembled those of the Greeks.
A solid gold torque was decorated
with figures of horsemen, and gold
ornaments sewn to the clothing of the
dead people were embossed with
figures of bowmen firing arrows,
riders brandishing spears and soldiers
with quivers and bow-cases attached

Who were the warriors portrayed

kurgans.

in

Many of these mounds marked the

last resting-place of chieftains or
kings, and proved to be complex
constructions in the form of crypts or
catacombs, containing a great variety
of objects.
Some of them had been
plundered long ago, but what the
robbers had rejected was of the great
est interest to the archaeologists.

opinion of the archaeologists who had

unearthed these objects was correct.
They were Scythians, drawn, as it

cauldrons

and earthenware utensils;

these

were,

scenes?

The

"from life".

only acquaintance with an ancient

people had come through the pages
of Herodotus and other writers found

before their very eyes.

costume
jewellery
(usually stitched to
swords,

battle-axes,

in
metalware
the garment);
spears, arrows,

quivers, scabbards and armour; har

ness for horses and ritual articles.
Various

materials

were

used

in

their production, ranging from gold,

bronze and clay to iron, silver, bone
and stone.
The objects themselves
came from a variety of sources, some
of them being of local manufacture
and others imported from abroad
honestly purchased, looted by raidingparties or obtained through trade
with other tribes.
Excavation on the whole confirmed

Herodotus'

account

of

life

in

the

steppes, at least as far as its material

aspects were concerned, and justified
his

claim

to

be

considered

With

one

or

two

The

answers

were

inaccuracies

or

omissions, what the archaeologists

discovered in the royal tombs matches
his descriptions of the funerals of
kings.
The bronze cauldrons which

they unearthed correspond to those in

which, according to Herodotus, the
Scythians boiled their meat, and if

Kul Oba was only the first in a

series of burial mounds to yield metal
objects portraying the Scythians.
In
1 862, excavations began in the extra
ordinary Chertomlyk kurgan near the
Dnieper, which produced a gold and
silver vase decorated with a frieze of

sculptured human figures and horses

similar to those found on objects from
Kul Oba, and which is generally consi
dered to depict the horse-breeders
and

horse-breakers of the Scythian

steppes.

In 1912-1913, the neighbouring

Solokha kurgan, which was also a
royal tomb, produced further objects
decorated with scenes from Scythian
life, including a golden comb portray
ing Scythian warriors in battle.

We have mentioned only a few of

the most significant discoveries made
in the late nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries and illustrating
the "Scythian theme" in ancient art.
The
most
immediate
impression
which they leave is one of artistic and

technical
perfection.
The
golden
comb referred to above, for example,
is composed of a number of finelyCONTINUED

14

Targitaus

there,

as the

founder of historical science.

of King

like ?
How did they arm themselves?
What did they wear?
How did they
behave?

for the head;

the legend

themselves face-to-face with Scy

thian realities.
What did they look

dants

ornaments

immediate

For the first time, scholars whose

gold rings, bracelets, necklaces, pen

and

recount

to their belts.

or

The inventory of everyday objects

is a long one, and includes bronze

Three vases

PAGE 48

by

Dimitri S. Raevsky

DIMITRI

SERGEEVICH

Soviet archaeologist,
search

at

the

RAEVSKY,

is engaged on re

Oriental Institute

of the

Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.

in Moscow.
He has written many stu
dies on the history and culture of the
Scythians and is the author of a book on
Scythian mythology,
as it has been
recreated on the basis of archaeological
data and descriptions by authors of
Antiquity, to be published in 1977.

IN

the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.,

Scythian artists and Greek artists

who had settled in the Scythian
territories began to provide the local
Scythian nobility with beautiful pieces
of craftsmanship made according to
the tastes of their patrons and incor

porating many subjects and motifs.

Did these motifs merely depict
scenes from everyday life or were
they themes of greater significance?
Professor Boris N. Grakov, a leading
Soviet authority on Scythian culture,
has

affirmed

that

the

content

for

them

to

be

v K h. KS2***

and

%&smio

style of these scenes are too specific

merely representa

tions of everyday situations.

He
sees them as possible representations
of Scythian myths.
By comparing these portrayals with
the information given us by Classical

The story of the first Scythian king, Targitaus, and his three sons depicted

on a frieze encircling a silver vessel (drawing no. 1, opposite page)

discovered in the north of Kuban.
The old king converses with
his eldest son (4) and bids farewell to his second son (5) who, holding
two spears in his right hand, is about to set off on a journey.
To his

beardless youngest son Targitaus proffers his bow, symbol of authority (6).

authors, we should be able to recon

struct

Scythian

mythology.

Photos Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.. Moscow

Photo L Tarassova

/ZJX'

Kiev State Historical Museum

Herodotus
relates the Scythian
legend of the first hero, who was
known to the Scythians as Targitaus,

the youngest of the brothers. Scythes,

succeeded.
According to the legend

All the details of this composition

seem to indicate that it is a represen

he then became the first ruler of the

but whom the Greek colonists of the

Scythians and his two older brothers

Black Sea region, and Herodotus also,

were sent into exile.

tation of Targitaus and his three sons.

Two of them he is exiling from his
realm.
Targitaus
even
holds
up
three fingers to the departing warrior,

referred

to as

Heracles, the famous

hero of Greek myth.

At the beginning of the 1950s,

Professor Grakov put forward the
interesting hypothesis that the num
erous Scythian representations of a

This subject is depicted in an

astonishing
number
of works of
Scythian art.
At the beginning of
this century a small ritual silver ves

sel

(drawing

1) which clearly origi

nated from the Black Sea area, was

man fighting with a fantastic beast all

depict the exploits of Targitaus.

found in a tomb along the course of

Professor Grakov also claimed that

Six male figures are represented on

this vessel, grouped in three paired
scenes.
One of the figures reappears

such works were popular among the

Scythians because Targitaus, accor

ding
to

to Herodotus,

be

the

direct

was considered
ancestor

of

the

Scythian kings.
Is it possible, then,
to identify features in Scythian art
which directly relate to the myth of
Targitaus ?
According to one version of this
legend, Targitaus-Heracles had three
sons.

of

In

them

order

was

to determine which

the

most

worthy

of

becoming the ruler of the Scythians, '

he decided to put them to a test.
Each had to attempt to string his
father's bow and strap on the belt
which

he wore

in

battle.

This trial

required, as may well be imagined,

great strength and skill, and only

the Don.

in all three scenes.

He is an elderly

Scythian with long hair and a beard.

as if to

remind him that all the bro

thers had been subjected to the test.

Meanwhile he proffers his bow to
the third and youngest son as a
symbol of his victory and as an
emblem
of
his
power.

A few years ago, during the exca

vations at Gaimanova Mogila in the
Ukraine, a vessel (drawing 2, page 14
and photo page
17) was found

showing
another
taking an oblong

young
object

Scythian
from the

hands of an older man. Unfortunate

In one of the scenes (4) he is repre

sented

in

conversation

Scythian.

Another scene (5) is more

important:
farewell

with another

to

the same character bids

a

warrior

who

holds

spear in each hand and may be

setting off on an expedition to distant
lands.

But it is the third scene (6) which

seems to be the most significant of

all: the same hero proffers his bow
to his companion, who is clearly the
youngest person in the group he has
not yet even grown the customary
Scythian beard.

ly that part of the vessel (drawing 7,

page 1 6) was seriously damaged and
the object cannot be made out.
But the

content of the scene and

the appearance of the characters

make it possible for us to see here
the very moment at which Targitaus
hands his . bow to
his youngest
son.
On the opposite side of the
vessel are two other Scythians, who
may
well
be
the victor's exiled
brothers.

Now

nowned

let

us

turn

Scythian

to the

ritual

most re-w

vessel

(3). r

15

Drawing of circular frieze (left)

embellishing a gilded silver cup less
than 10 cms high (drawing n 2,

I page 14, and photo opposite.

I Unearthed at Gaimanov (Ukraine),
y it dates from the 4th century

I B.C. At far right of drawing are

I two long-haired, bearded men
I dressed in Scythian fashion. At
centre left an old man is offering
something to a younger one.
This

I scene may be a variant of the legend

I of the Scythian king Targitaus.

Photos Institute of Oriental Studies

of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.; Moscow

, Made of gold and 1 3 cm high, it was

found almost a century and a half
ago in the Kul Oba kurgan on the

back violently, wounding him by a

blow either on the left leg or the
lower jaw.

Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea.

The force of the

A frieze encircles the vase, repre

senting seven Scythians, busy at dif

ferent occupations.
One of them
is kneeling on his right knee, his
left leg over a bow, stretching it,
while he strings it with the right hand
and holds it steady with the left.
This may be a representation of the
feat that Targitaus asked of his sons.
If this is so how can we interpret
what is happening in the other scenes
on the vase?
One Scythian is ban
daging the wounded leg of another.
Beside
him,
another Scythian is
probing
for
something
with
his
thumb and forefinger in the mouth
of his companion.
The explanation
of this somewhat unexpected scene
is as follows.

When unstrung, the Scythian bow

is curved at both ends in the opposite
direction from the bow-string (in the
form

hook

of

on

attempts
manner

cursive

each

to

letter "w"

end).

draw

indicated

If the

it

on

tight
the

with

archer

backlash

is such

that it may be capable of breaking

a bone and could certainly dislodge a
tooth.
Perhaps
Targitaus's
older
sons received these wounds, through
not being able to carry out their
father's test.

Is this what we see on

the vessel from Kul Oba ?

What did

the

Scythians imagin

happened to Targitaus's older sons?

Herodotus
world

does

folklore

not

tell

recounts

us,

but

numerous

versions of the rivalry between three

brothers, in which the youngest is
victorious.

These

versions

differ

in

many details but usually have the

same ending: the older brothers,
enraged by the younger's success,
slay him.
This is how the story ends in the
narrative of the three sons of Fereydun,

the

hero of an

epic, whose general

resemble
those
of
Targitaus.

ancient Iranian

characteristics,
the
Scythian

in

the

The scene shown on the Gaimanova

vase,

but

Mogila vase described above sug

gests that the end of the Scythian
myth may be very similar.
The two

does not have the necessary strength

and dexterity, the wood can spring

From right to left: a Scythian wearing a pointed helmet

bandages his comrade's leg.
Another seems to be acting
as a dentist, probing in the mouth of his companion.
Yet
another is stringing his bow, a task said to have
been given to the sons of Targitaus.
Two more
figures seem to be gossiping while they lean on their
spears.
The drawing depicts a frieze decorating an electrum

(gold and silver alloy) vase discovered at Kul Oba

in the Crimea (drawing n 3, page 14).

persons who represent, according

to our interpretation, the elderbrothers
are heavily armed, while the youngest
brother and the father have only
bows.

Has

the

artist

trayed

here

the

precise

when

the

murderous

two

plot

brothers

not

por

moment

hatch

their

their

vic

against

torious rival ?

Another renowned

Scythian trea

sure is the gold comb (4th century

B.C.) from the Solokha kurgan, in
the lower Dnieper River region (see
photo page 8).
Two Scythian war
riors, one on foot and the other on

horseback,

are

attacking

and

van

quishing a third one.

Could these
also be the sons of Targitaus?
A

Roman

poet,

Caius

Flaccus (Ist century A.

Valerius

D.) confirms

this theory in his poem "The Argonautica!'

In

the

nothing

midst

to

do

of items which have

with

the

myth,

he

suddenly mentions a combat between

two individuals whose names are very
similar in sound to those of TargitausHeracles' sons.
His description of
the combat also evokes that represen
ted on the comb: the warrior's horse

is dead, he himself is wounded, death

will soon overtake him...

Thus, such artistic representations

make it possible to link together the
fragments of Scythian myths preser
ved
by different
authors and to
reconstruct on this basis a single
connected narrative.

The

popularity of the legend of

Targitaus and his sons and the fre

quent enactment of this subject on
ritual objects should not surprise us.
After all, this was a dynastic myth,
which supported the Scythian kings'
claim to the throne.

However, it must be admitted that

these
interpretations
are still not
unanimously
accepted,
and
that
there are other possible explana
tions and approaches to this subject.
Meanwhile

the

search

for

the

truth

continues...

Dimitri S. Raevsky

Four Ukrainian archaeologists

present their latest finds
IN the steppes of Eastern Europe
large earthen mounds mark the
burial places of ancient Scythian
rulers.
These royal "kurgans" were

though

in most cases plundered in antiquity

by thieves in search of the hoards of
gold hidden within the tombs.

found to contain an astonishing wealth

For the first time, during the past

six or seven years, systematic exca
vations of Scythian kurgans have
been carried out on a large scale,
using the latest scientific methods,

by expeditions from the Institute of

Archaeology
of
the Academy of
Sciences of the Ukrainian S. S. R.
Undertaken

in

connexion

with

the

they were first excavated in

19th and at the start of the 20th

century,

and

ancient times,

had
the

in

Crimea, can also be included among

tombs were still

these tombs by virtue of the wealth

of objects it contained.

been

pillaged

of treasures.

The many objects unearthed include

remarkable pieces of jewellery, orna
tely decorated weapons, gold and

Ivan Artemenko

of Archaeology of the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences

centuries B.C. are those of Chertom-

Kozel,
Bol'shaia
Tsymbalka
and
Chmyrev, all situated in the Dnepro
petrovsk,
Zaprozhye
or
Kherson

the

research

on

the

aroused

tremendous

Ukraine,

the

tombs

has

royal

interest.

Al

Director of the Institute

Among the best known of the royal

kurgans dating from the 4th and 3rd
lyk,

of

most recent discoveries.

works of ancient art.

They have now
become part of the world's cultural
heritage.

in

south

On the following pages, Ukrainian

archaeologists present a few of their

silver vessels and other outstanding

extensive land improvement projects

the

regions of the Ukraine.

The famous
kurgan of Kul Oba, near Kerch, in the

Solokha,

Oguz,

Alexandropol',

2 - the golden cup of Gaimanov

DURING

the Gaima-

remarkable for its size over 8 metres

nova Mogila kurgan, which

occupies a central position
among more than 50 burials of Scy

high and about 80 metres in diameter.

Its enormous size, its sharp outlines
against the flat steppe landscape and
its
gleaming
white
stone facing
emphasized the exceptional impor

thian

1969-70,

warriors,

was

excavated

and

studied by an expedition from the

Institute of Archaeology of the Aca
demy of Sciences of the Ukrainian
S.S.R. Gaimanova Mogila is stu-
ated near the village of Balka in the
Vasil'ievska district of the Zaporozhye
region.
In
comparison

with

the

other

kurgans, which are about 1 to 1.5

metres high, Gaimanova Mogila is

tance

of

the

individual

buried

in it.

Gaimanova Mogila served as a

burial vault for Scythian royalty, and
the funeral objects discovered in it
correspond in many details to the

royal power, cups, horns for wine, a

drinking bowl, a pitcher, and the bo
dies of those servants who, according
to Herodotus, were buried with a king.
However,
Gaimanova
Mogila's
fame

as

one

of

the

most

valuable

historical monuments of Scythia is

not solely due to the extremely rich

finds of eating and cooking utensils

and

the

several

thousand

pieces of jewellery.

customs associated with the burial of

tant

Scythian kings as described by Hero

dotus.
We found golden and silver
vessels, the attributes of Scythian

buried

tomb.

discoveries
in

the

These

excellent

The most impor

were

cache

the

of the

included

objects
northern

golden

and

silver ritual vessels, as well as three

17

UKTEST UKRAINIAN

FINDS (Continued)

wooden cups with rolled gold discs

along the rim; also in the cache were
a flat silver drinking cup and two
drinking horns, with silver bases and
golden mouths and tips in the forms
of

the

head

of

ram

and

lion.

These objects were accompanied by

silver pitchers and a round drinkingbowl placed in a gilded silver vessel.

other by their involvement in com

mon activities.
They are superbly
integrated into the form of the vessel.
The four major figures are displayed
in pairs on the surface of the cup; the
other two kneel under the cup's

Their clothing is just as luxurious,

their weapons just as costly, but
their poses are somewhat different.
The young Scythian holds in his right
hand a ritual drinking-bowl, and his

handles.

of the elderly warrior.

Under one
handle of the vessel, a youth on his
knees is prostrating himself before a
wineskin, while the kneeling figure
under the other handle is an elderly
warrior, with his gorytus (the combi
nation quiver and bow-case typical
of the Scythians) beside him.
He
has one hand stretched up to his
forehead and is gripping something

[For

an

interpretation

these figures on the

of

golden cup of

Gaimanov see article page 15].

With the exception of the large

drinking horn and the wooden cups
which are the work of a local Scythian
craftsman, the remaining objects in
the cache are made in the style of
Greek art of the 4th century B.C.
and show clear links with the jewel
lery workshops of the Bosphorus.

On one side of the cup stand two

elderly warriors, engaged in conversa
tion.
Long-haired and bearded, they
are dressed in rich clothing and carry
ceremonial precious weaponry.
Their
long kaftans, with triangular gussets,

The
most outstanding
work of
Scytho-Classical
art found in the
Gaimanova Mogila kurgan is a small
spherical gilded silver cup, with two

fantastical designs.
Their hairstyles
are
highly
distinctive,
and
their
weapons in particular betoken the
highest authority.
The mace of the
warrior on the right and the twothonged whip held by the one on the
left, suggest that the two men belon
ged to the elite of Scythian leaders.

flat horizontal handles decorated with

rams'
heads.
The
central design
on the cup is a wide frieze in high
relief, depicting Scythian warriors.
The
warriors
stand
against
a
background showing an open, stony
area

and

are

connected

Photo Art Publishers,

18

Moscow

with

each

are trimmed with fur and embroidered

on

the

shoulders

and

chest

with

On the opposite side of the cup

an elderly bearded warrior and a
young
Scythian
are
conversing.

left

hand

is

outstretched,

like

that

with the other.

All the figures are gilded, and only

the faces and hands are silver.

Each

image is individual in style.

It is
worth emphasizing that this is the
first known example of Scythian
dcorative
art
depicting
Scythian
leaders of the highest rank.

Vasily Bidzilia
Institute of Archaeology
of the Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences

Scythian idyll
on a royal

breastplate

On this gold pectoral or breast

plate (right) the artist has
depicted scenes in minute detail
making this masterpiece of the

goldsmith's art (30 cm. in diameter)

a vivid portrayal of Scythian
pastoral life.
At centre of upper
frieze of the pectoral (detail left)
two men on their knees are holding
and sewing a sheepskin tunic.
They wear the typical trousers
and

boots

of

the

nomad

horsemen

of the steppes.
This 4th century
B.C. Greco-Scythian pectoral
was wrought near the Black Sea
and

was

discovered

in

the

Ukraine

in 1971 in a Scythian ruler's tomb.

Photo O APN,

THE

excavations

in

1971

of

Tolstaya Mogila, one of the

most magnificent royal tombs
of Scythia, turned out to be a momen

tous event for archaeology.

centre

of

the

tomb

was

In th

the

burial

of the ruler himself, with beside him

two pits for the burial of horses and

the three tombs of his leading grooms.
In the south-western part of the
kurgan two dark patches marked the
entrances to a side tomb, which had

escaped plunder.

in it were found the objects which

were to make Tolstaya Mogila worldfamous.
These were the most pre
cious
of
the
king's
ceremonial
emblems of authority: a sword cov
ered in gold, a gold-wrapped whip,
and, most spectacular of all, a golden
pectoral, or breastplate.
The pectoral weighs 1,150 gram
mes.
Its crescent-shaped surface is
divided into three bands by broad
elegant twisted cords of gold.
In

In this tomb lay the skeleton of a

young Scythian woman, probably the
wife of the ruler.

dresses,

veils

All her clothes her

and

sandals were

embroidered with ornamental golden

discs.
Her jewellery was of gold.
Beside the woman was an alabaster

sarcophagus containing the body of a

child

who

had

died

later

and

had

the

centre

of the

lowest

band

three scenes show a horse being

attacked and pulled down by griffins.
Beyond them are depicted the com
bats of a wild boar and a deer with a

leopard and a lion, and at each end

of this

band

hare.

In

front

hound chases after a

of

each

hare

two

grasshoppers face each other eternal

symbols of peace and tranquility.

been carried into the grave through

The middle band is decorated with

a separate entrance.
The whole of
its tiny skeleton was also covered in

plant motifs and among the wonder

fully
interwoven
flowers,
shoots,

golden plaques, rings,

palmleaves,

bracelets and

neck ornaments.

Everything was in a perfect state of

preservation when, 2,300 years after
the burial, the first archaeologists
entered the grave.
But although the
central grave had been plundered,

lifelike

rosettes and leaves, five

figures

of

birds

evoke

the

atmosphere of a quiet sunny morning.

Linked with the lower band into a

Moscow

and upper bands and gives the whole

work its unity as a great symphonic
poem about Scythian life and ideas.

In the upper band, four Scythians

go about their peaceful tasks sur
rounded by domestic animals.
In
the centre two men, stripped to the
waist, their quivers and bows close
at hand, are sewing a sheepskin
tunic.
To the left and right of them
a cow and a mare suckle their young
and further on two youths are milk
ing ewes.
Birds in flight complete
the composition, communicating an
impression of the infinity of the world.
With its perfect proportions and the
outstanding beauty and naturalness
of its movements, each figure is a
sculptural
masterpiece.
An
extra
ordinary composition, the work as a
whole undoubtedly has a complex
symbolic meaning.
But, quite apart
from its true significance, it seems
clear that in this work the artist was

striving,
directly or
indirectly,
to
convey a philosophical picture of his
world, with all its aspirations and its
dreams.

For

the

first

time,

we

see

on

single picture, the middle band forms

ritual

a kind of interlude between the largescale sculptural figures on the lower

scenes nor noble warriors, but a vistas

royal

object

neither

battle '

of earthly life in all its harmony.

19

LATEST UKRAINIAN FINDS (Continued)

Such a find was unprecedented in

the
field of Scythian studies.
It
reflected, as a drop of dew does the
sun,

the

full

brilliance and radiance

of rpyal Scythian gold, much more of

which

has

been

Mogila than in
the

richest

found

at Tolstaya

Kul Oba, previously

Scythian

tomb

ever

excavated.

Yet the importance of these finds

lies not in the gold, butin the priceless
historical-revelations that come from

every object in the Tolstaya

and the imperishable artistic
of its most exquisite works.

tomb
value

Boris Mozolevsky
Institute of Archaeology
of the Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences

DEER-STALKING LIONS.
Each end of this solid gold neck-ring is decorated
with seven lions stalking a deer whose hindquarters merge
into the decorative pattern on the neck-ring.
This ornament belonged
to a Scythian noblewoman buried 2,300 years ago with all her jewels.

It came to light in 1971 in the same tomb as the magnificent pectoral

shown on page 19.
The tomb was robbed but both objects were missed
by the plunderers.

Photo

L Tarassova O

Kiev State Historical Museum.

ENIGMATIC GRIFFIN.

Bronze ornament (left) in the form

of a stylized griffin may have surmounted a staff,

a ceremonial standard or the decoration of a catafalque.
Discovered in 1971, it dates from the 4th century B.C.

and is only 5 cms. high.

WELL-TRAVELLED BOAR.
This gold boar with silver tusks
may have been the base of a wine-cup.
The wild boar
was a cult animal for the Celts and this work

was probably made by a Celtic craftsman in Central Europe

in the 4th century B.C.
Its discovery in the Ukraine
is evidence of the trade links that existed in ancient times

between the Scythian world and its Western neighbours.

Unearthed in 1970, the boar is 5 cms. long
and weighs less than 20 grammes.

Photo L Tarassova 'O Kiev State Historical Museum.

SCYTHIAN PANOPLY. Carved in limestone 2,500 years ago, this statue is

the full-length portrayal of a Scythian warrior in helmet and armour (see also

a horse's finery

box page 13). From his belt hang the typical short Scythian sword (the akinakes)
a quiver for bow and arrows (the gorytus), a battle-axe and a sheathed dagger.
He is wearing a neck-ring and in his right hand he grips to his breast a rhyton,
a horn-shaped drinking cup. The 2-metre-high statue may originally have
topped a burial mound. It was found near the Black Sea in 1975 by

capped

archaeologists of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine.

Photo O V.

Kloshko.

by a goddess
of the chase

Kiev

2, 400-year-old Scythian or
nament of singular beauty
and originality was recently

unearthed

in

the

Ukraine

(the first

photo of this, work ever published

appears on the centre colour pages of
this issue).

The ornament, a horse's gold bridle

piece, came to light when the undis
turbed grave of a man and two horses
was uncovered at the end of a corri

dor.
The discovery was made by
two specialists in the archaeology of
Early Iron Age cultures, I. P. Savovsky
and Yu. V. Boltrik, who were directing
excavations at the village of Giunovko
in the Kamenskoye-Dnieper district
of the Zaporozhye region.
A man of about 25 lay by the wall
of the passageway.
The small num
ber and modest nature of the objects

near him (a gold ear-ring, an iron bra

celet, glass beads and a bunch of
arrows) showed his subordinate po
sition in society: he was most pro
bably a groom.
The horse buried by
the opposite wall was also modestly
decorated: the archaeologists found
an iron bit and the fastenings of a
bridle.

In comparison, the decoration of

the second horse, lying in the middle,
was striking in its magnificence.
It
consisted

of

bridle

frontlet

in

the

form of a lion, two cheekplates show

ing a lion pulling down a deer, four
phaleras, or discs with running spirals,
and two plaques without decoration.
All the objects were of gilded silver.
The

horse's

head

was

crowned

with
a
flat
top-piece.
This was
painted blue, with a leather base, and
had a delicate segment-shaped gold

plaque (33 cm by 20 cm) stuck to it.

The decoration on this "diadem for

a horse" is new for Scythian art.

A
woman rider is firing arrows at a stag
under a tree which is crowned by two

enormous stylized flowers with redcoloured outer petals.

Plant shoots

are visible under the

feet of the horse and the stag, and

plant

motifs

dominate

the

scene.

The antlers of the stag are intertwined

with

the

branches

of the tree and a

wide border of plant ornamentation i

wavy shoots with whorls sprouting I

21

Colour pages

Page 23

LATEST UKRAINIAN

FINDS

Golden stag's head (detail

of photo on page 4) which

(Continued)

once adorned an iron shield.

Measuring 31
and
19
cms.

from them frames the perimeter of

the ornament.
The top-piece is a
miniature decorative panel in which
the colourful effect is achieved by a
combined use of gold, blue and red.
The skilled craftsmanship has given
the work an appearance of delicate

whole
object
less
than
634
The stag was
most
popular

of

the

details

even
abounded.

to be sewn onto a garment.

buried

horse.

between the

the

GreeksArtemis.

This

Three

their

18th century.

this

gold
part
trea
Tsar
early

gold objects that had escaped the plunderers of

close

Greco-

is evidence

links

between

Greeks and Scythians in the

4th
century
B.C.
The
openwork

nally

sewn

plaques,

origi

onto

cloth

backing, are decorated with scenes of animal

combata characteristic feature of Scythian art.

pendants

hang

from

two

of the

Pages 28-29

The Scythians lavished the utmost care on

the details of their equipment, which was
embellished by sculptors

and goldsmiths

with sumptuous ornaments such as those

shown here.

Page 28
Fabulous beast attacking
horse.

The

of

the

originally
copper

goddess in the valley of Cithaeron,

where he caught sight of her bathing.

with
was

two

work

joined
plaque

silver.

year-old

As a punishment, Artemis turned

Actaeon into a stag, which then
became itself the prey of hunters.

sec

were

by
a
riveted

This

2,500-

sword-belt buckle

once

encrusted

with

multicoloured gems.

Bridle

frontlet

Siberian

6th

from

the

art

of

the

7th

B.C.,

been a shield decora

tion
40).

(see also photo page

Solid gold, it weighs

more
The

than

220

small

of

or

20

cms.

claw-like

"split

two

feet

are

rendered

in

10

representation"

motifs,

which

is

specific feature of

Scythian art.

Page 29

grammes.

central

r '

mountains

About

high, it joins the head of a

wild beast to the gracefully
curving
necks
of
two
geese.
Necks,
ears
and

this

may

have

Altai

(Siberia).

symmetrically

panther,
a
of
Scytho-

century

carved from

a stag's antler in the 5th

century B.C. by an artist

curious

Curled-up
masterwork

circles

probably once held coloured inlays. (Collection

Half griffin, half bird of

prey, this gold-plated silver
bridle trinket (4th century
B.C.) was discovered in the

of Peter the Great).

Sea of Azov region.

its exact significance.

Wrought

Vitaly Otroshchenko

gold

Institute of Archaeology
of the Ukrainian Academy,

amber

Sciences

the

Its

style

many ancient tombs.

mistake into the sacred forest of the

of

Sea.

combat over

on

His collection consisted of solid

tions

nitive conclusions to be drawn about

in

prey

underwent an intensive process of

anthropomorphisation
of
divinities
during the 5th and 4th centuries
B.C.
But the discovery of this hunt
ing scene is still too recent for defi

Dnieper

carnivorous beasts

plaque which formed

of the Siberian gold
sure
assembled
by
Peter the Great in the

relates

whose religion, as Herodotus tells us,

of

Ornamental

locked

how the hunter Actaeon strayed by

The image of the divine huntress

would naturally attract the Scythians,

Black

Scythian

once

this ornament

and 3rd centuries B.C.

are

hunt takes place in a sacred

grove in which trees and plants are

highly stylized, and the whole recalls
the legend of the virgin huntress of

5th

headdress)
steppe-land

river

plaques.

On the cheekplates the stag is shown

being eaten by a lion, on the gold discs
it is being pulled down by a griffin,
and in the top-piece it is being killed
by a human.
The

camels

enabled

the

the

horse

reindeer and

wild

Perforations

in

the

some 200 km. north of the

bone

where horses,

of a stag is repeated three times in

of

near
small

carved

decoration

Golden diadem, or kalathos

(11 cms. long) is a typical

product of the ancient art
of Tuva, a region in central
Siberia
near
Mongolia

pose should not be allowed toobscure

the mythological nature of the subject

ART

Page 24

Page 25

in the

The theme of the death

SCYTHIAN

discovered

costume of the horsewoman and her

as a whole.

OF

grammes.

one of the
motifs
of

(basket-shaped

This

realism

SPLENDOURS

Scythian art.

gold lace.
The

cms. long
high, the
weighs
no

may

one

the

have

and

this famous

from
of

breastplate
is

hammered

enamel

inlays,

panther
north

in

with

Kelermes,
Caucasus,

decorated

or

of the

shield.

It

Head

oldest examples

of the animal

art of the steppes (7th or 6th centuries B.C.).

Weight: 735 grammes; length: 33 cms.

of a

griffin

in en

graved cast gold (4th cen

tury
B.C.).
A
harness
decoration,

3.5

cms.

high,

it weighs 50 grammes.
This
amber

long)
heads

elaborate gold and

work
(19
cms.

incorporates
of

lions

the

and

rams

on
an
intricately-wrought
openwork structure.
Dat
ing from the 7th
century
B.C.,
it

or 6th
may
have

decorated

Bronze

silhouette

of the

head of a bird of prey (6th

or 5th century B.C.) found

throne.

in
a

the

Kuban

ceremonial

once topped
pole.

Two

Pages 26-27
Our
centre
colour
pages present
a photo, published for the first time,

of the three bells originally

of a

gold

unearthed

bridle
in

top-piece,

the Ukraine.

recently

It adorned

attached

high

to

head

mountain

beneath

the

the

have
goat

26-cm.-

survived.
cowers

looming bird.

the

head of a horse of the steppes

some 2,400 years ago.
This orna
ment is a striking example of the
finery with which the Scythiannomads
decked

out

decoration

their

of

attached to a

steeds.

top-piece,

Intricate

which

is

coloured leather base,

shows
a
goddess of the chase
hunting a stag (see article page 21).
This

remarkable work

Kiev

State

is now in the

Museum

(Ukrainian

S.S.R.).
Photos n""

1. 3. 6,

Photos n"s 2. 4.

22

Although

stylized

form,

this

B.C.

bronze

in

4th-centuryreindeer

conveys a realistic im
pression of movement.

7. 8, 13 : Lee Boltin *.' The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York

5, 9, 10. 11, 12, 14 : L Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad

**r

24

25

r '

if J

r*o

*>>-*?

\^#u*f

imt
u ju

% ?<

PL

28

PAZYRYK
a nomad way of life

"deep-frozen" for 25 centuries

in Siberian mountain tombs

by Manya

THE High Altai in Siberia is

severe,
majestic
country.
Over its steppes and moun
tain pastures, in the middle

P. Zavitukhina

of the last millennium

the

nomadic

tribes

lay aside their trowels, knives and

brushes, and pour in vast quantities
of hot water to melt the ice.

B.C., roamed

which

scholars

have associated with the gold-guard

ing griffins of legend.
Following
their vast herds of cattle and horses,

they left behind them, in the upland

hollows,

inside the burial places, they had to

innumerable

cairn-covered

barrows known as kurgans or burialmounds.

The
tionally

Altaians
splendid

organized
excep
burials, following

customs and rituals similar to those of

their kindred people the Scythians.

At the bottom of a deep and roomy
hole, they built a log-lined chamber
with walls and ceiling of double
thickness.
On the floor they laid the
coffins which would receive the em

In 1 929, two scholars from Lenin

grad, S.I. Rudenko and M.P. Gryaznov,

began excavations in an ancient burial

ground

in

place

called

Pazyryk,

1.600 metres above sea-level in the

remote

Ulagan

Valley,

in

Siberia.

The explorations of the first kurgan,

which proved to be frozen solid and
to contain goods which would nor
mally be called "perishable", aroused
unprecedented interest.
Rudenko's return in 1947-1949, at
MARIYA

PAVLOVNA

ZAVITUKHINA,

Soviet archaeologist, is executive secretary

of the Department of History of Prehistoric
Cultures and curator of Siberian antiquities
at the State Hermitage Museum (Leningrad).
For many years she has directed excavations

of monuments from the Scythian period

in the Krasnoyarsk region and is the author

of many

studies

on

Siberian archaeology.

the head of an expedition which

investigated four other frozen barrows,
produced sensational results.
When

the "refrigerated" tombs yielded up

carpets,

clothing

ceremonial

and

chariot,

footwear,

the

mummified

bodies of men and women, horses in

rich trappings, utensils of all kinds,

musical instruments and other objects
of them almost 2,500 years old
the little known name of Pazyryk be
came world famous.

The hollows where the barrows are

balmed

bodies

of the dead.

They

decorated the walls of the tomb with

felt hangings, and furnished it with

the personal possessions of the men
and women they were burying, adding
tableware,

food

Outside

the

and drink.

burial

chamber they

placed
richly
caparisoned horses,
killed on the day of the funeral.
They
even

left

behind

them

some

of the

tools used in preparing the tomb:

wooden shovels, picks and mallets, as
well as trolleys and ladders.
Then
they carefully covered over the tomb
with layers of birch bark and the fo
liage of the "smoky tea" shrub, and
roofed it up to ground level with
larch logs.
They heaped soil on the
top and then, finally, raised a cairn of
stones

over

Objects

the

mound.

found

in the tombs and

data from radiocarbon analysis, indi
cate that these

burial

constructed

the

centuries

in

mounds were
fifth

or

fourth

B.C.

situated are outside the area in which

Colour page opposite:

the ground is permanently frozen, but

the climate of the High Altai, with its
low mean annual temperatures, its
long

and

In the tombs of Pazyryk (Siberia)

and

its

archaeologists have discovered

clothing, wall hangings and carpets
perfectly preserved for over
2,000 years beneath the frozen earth.

nights are still cold, led to the forma

tion of merzlota, or permafrost, under

Above left, detail of a felt saddle

cover from Pazyryk; the entire cover

is shown in lower photo.
Its design,
in coloured felt appliqu outlined
with cords, shows a mountain goat
attacked by a griffin; its tassels are
fringed with horsehair and fur.
Saddle covers cushioned the riders'

thighs and were often embellished

with brightly coloured animal forms
or animal combats.

almost
short

snow-free winters

summers,

the cairns themselves.

when

the

Their stones

protected the earth from heat in the

summer,

and permitted refrigeration

The excellent pastures and almost

snow-free winters provided the Al

taian nomads with year-round grazing

for their herds of horses and for the

herds
which

of cattle, sheep and goats

furnished all their everyday

requirements food,

clothes

and

shelter.

For these nomadic peoples, the

horse was the principal means of lo

to a depth of seven metres, where the

comotion.

temperature never rose above freezing

point.
Water turned into ice as it

locally-bred

filtered

footed thoroughbred fliers, gold and

chestnut in colouring, of Central Asian
origin.
They even took these ridinghorses with them into the grave.

into the tombs, whose con

tents, thus "deep-frozen", . were

ideal conditions of preservation.

in

The archaeologists were faced with

an unusual problem.

In order to see

possessed

In addition to their small,

draught-horses,
highly-prized

and

they
swift-

Thanks to the excavations, we now r

31

know

how the

dled up.

ancient Altaians sad

The saddle itself consisted

of two soft felt cushions, stuffed with

deer hair and secured by breast- and

crupper-straps which
prevented it
from sliding forwards or backwards.

Stirrups

were

still

unknown;

they

were not to come into use for another

thousand
formed by
to the bit,
lash and a

years.
The
bridle
was
a headstall strap attached
with side-straps, a throatsingle noseband strap.

The nomads of the Altai probably

lived in light, portable tents, or yurty,
in covered wagons when they were
on

the

move

and if

the

skill

with

which they built their burial chambers

is
TREASURES

SAVED

BY

FROST AND

LOOTERS

guide in

used

wooden

vessels,
and

Rich stores of normally perishable objects, yielding priceless information

about the steppe nomads, have been found almost perfectly
preserved in the extraordinary frozen tombs of the Altai mountains in
Siberia (6th-4th centuries B.C.).
Below, cross-section of an Altai

tomb in the highland valley of Pazyryk, where graves were first excavated
by Soviet archaeologists in 1929.
Tomb chamber shown, walled
and roofed with logs, was at bottom of a pit 5 metres deep.- At ground
level earth from the pit was formed into a low mound topped by piles
of boulders (see view of Pazyryk tombs in photo above).
Cold winter air
settled between the stones and eventually a lens-shaped section of
ground around the burial chamber became perpetually frozen.
Every
human burial chamber at Pazyryk was looted by robbers who dug down and
chopped through the logs (note disturbed v-shaped area of rocks
and soil in cross-section).
Water seeped through the opening and froze,
preserving for all time the bodies of chieftains, their women, horses
and possessions of fur, fabric, leather and wood, left behind by
the looters.
Drawing at bottom shows a Pazyryk horse burial, including

log

houses.

and

as well

They

earthenware

as leather pouches

flasks.

Their clothing consisted of skirts

woven from kendyr or hemp fibres,
caftans of fur or felt, and patchwork
breeches made of soft, pliable leather.
Their

footwear

stockings
with

and

soft soles.

completed

consisted

high

by

of

leather

felt

boots

This costume was

head-dress

in

the

form of a tall cap with ear-flaps, and

a

silver-buckled

Women's

clothing

leather

belt.

included

coats

of

squirrel skin, fur inwards, with

narrow, decorative sleeves, and short,
fur-lined bootees, also with soft soles.

trappings and wheels and frame of a 4-horse carriage.

The

nomads

went

to

war

with

bronze battle-axes, iron daggers and

bows and arrows, sheltering behind
shields

made

from

whittled

sticks

pleated through thin leather.

The ancient Altaians lived together

in clans or tribes, with distinct classes

of

chieftains

and

property-owning

nobles.
The patriarch, who bore the
double responsibility of stock-breeder
Drawing C Aurora Ad Publisher* Leningrad

and warrior, played a leading role in

the family unit, although the matriarch
was also held in high esteem. Concu
bines figured among the womenfolk,
but probably only at the upper, pro
perty-owning levels of society, where
custom demanded that the favourite,
after the death of her lord and master,

be strangled so that she might follow

;-y:vO

him beyond the grave.

mmsmm

Although the people of the High

lived in out-of-the-way places,

Altai

far from the ancient centres of civili

zation, many of the objects found in

their

burial

network

mounds

reveal

of trade and

broad

relations with

other
peoples,
from whom they
acquired
precious goods: carpets,
richly-woven textiles and ornaments,

and the well-bred Central Asian ridinghorses which they prized above all
else.

The
cattle

Altaians
and

horses

probably
from

offered

their

own

herds, as well as furs, gold and sil

ver, in exchange for these goods.
Valuable pile carpets and woollen
cloth of a distinctive style from Iran
found their way through Central
Asia to the Altai, whose inhabitants
also
obtained
from
their
Eastern

neighbours embroidered silks which

Drawing Scientific American, New York

32

CONTINUED

PAGE 36

FABULOUS

BESTIARIES

ON TAPESTRY AND SADDLE

Many elegant and richly worked textiles,
some imported from faraway Iran and China,
were found in the Pazyryk tombs, their
colours still unfaded.
Tapestries and felt
hangings which adorned the tents of the
horsemen of the steppes were dyed in

vivid reds, blues, yellows and greens and

often covered with elaborate designs
depicting men and real or mythical creatures.
A prancing winged and antlered figure,
half-lion, half-human, decorates this

fragment of a felt wall-hanging from

Pazyryk (1).

Horses had been decked out

with magnificent finery before being buried

with their masters.

Felt saddle covers were

lavishly decorated with ornaments, mostly

depicting exuberant scenes of animal

combat.

(See also colour photos page 30.)

Drawings below show four animal motifs

embellishing Pazyryk saddle covers; the

silhouettes were all cut from leather, partly

coloured and covered with gold leaf or
tinfoil: (2) Lion with massive head and

fanged open jaws; (3) Eagle-griffin pecks

fiercely into the neck of a lion-griffin; (4) A
griffin grips an elk in its talons; (5) Mountain

ram with tiger tearing at its throat has

collapsed onto its forelegs with its crupper

twisted round.
(See also pages 34 and 35.)
Its body is slashed with stops, commas
and half-horseshoes, a technique vividly
used by the Altai artists to indicate the
principal muscles and ribs.

Photo A. Bulgakov Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad . Drawings

from Frozen Tombs of Siberia by Sergei I. Rudenko J. M. Dent
and Sons,

London 1970.

4 5

33

Cavorting
creatures

on the
tattooed man

of Pazyryk
One of the most exciting and puzzling
discoveries made at Pazyryk was that
of the embalmed body of an elderly
chieftain who had been covered in

intricate tattooing long before his death,

A mass of real and imaginary beasts
pouncing, galloping,
prancing and kickingtumble
helter-skelter down both arms and

cover parts of one leg, chest and back.

The designs, preserved by the freezing

temperature, were formed by first

pricking the skin and then rubbing soot

in the perforations. On this double page
we show drawings of nine cavorting
creatures on the tattooed man and a

photo (4) of an enlarged detail from

his right arm, depicting a prancing
deer with an eagle's beak and long
antlers that turn into bird heads.

Numbers on drawing 11, a front view

of the chieftain, indicate the position
of some of the creatures on his body.
Running from his left breast to his

shoulder is a griffin, its curling tail

tipped by the head of a bird or
snake (1).
A fish (10) and a row of

mountain sheep run up one leg.

Fantastic procession winding up right
arm from hand to shoulder includes

a donkey (5), a winged monster with

a feline body (6), a carnivore with

gaping fanged jaws (9) and a horned

mountain ram (7).

Notice the

extraordinary way in which the ram's

hindquarters are twisted right round

like those of fantastic beast (3) on

back of right arm.

Animals were
often depicted in this way by Altai
artists, usually when being attacked
by stronger beasts.
Among the motifs
on the left arm are an animal with

tucked-in forelegs, possibly a mountain

ram (2) and a fabulous beast combining

features of deer, eagle and feline

carnivore (8).

What was the purpose

of this tattooing?
In his book
Frozen Tombs of Siberia, Sergei I.
Rudenko, the Soviet archaeologist
who excavated the Pazyryk burial
mounds, suggests that it may have
"signified noble birth or was a mark of

manhood or both", while the whirling

monsters "had some magic significance
not yet understood".

The tattooed

chieftain remains an enigmatic figure.

rcsl

<m\

Photo L Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers. Leningrad

Drawings from

Frozen

Tombs of Siberia by Sergei

Rudenko J. M. Dent and Sons, London 1970.

35

Photo Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

CONTINUED

FROM

Photo L Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

PAGE

32

must have been considered

less, even in China.
Amid

all

the

treasures

price

unearthed

Art was indeed in the people's

blood.
And the images of animals

at Pazyryk pride of place must go to

and birds,

cated,

multicoloured

by
a
whose

special
almost
and

carpet, woven

knotted technique,
square surface (ap

proximately 2
horses

pile

m.

by 2

riders,

m.) depicts

grazing

deer,

griffins
and
stylized
vegetation.
This carpet, the oldest of its kind in
the world,

is a tribute to the work

manship of its Iranian weavers.

although

the

the

and

men

tombs

are

physical
women

mainly

features

of

buried

in the

European,

traces

of
Indo-European and
Mongoloid
may also be detected.
The Altaians,
like the Scythians, are presumed to
have spoken a number of different
dialects of Iranian type.
The

art

of

the

ancient

tribes

of

the High Altai is astonishing in its

abundance and unique in its variety.

whether wild or domesti

real

or

fantastic,

which

figured
in their decorations were
more than brightly coloured orna
ments.
They revealed the spirit of
the people, their beliefs, the way
they looked at things.
In their travels abroad, the ancient
Altaians absorbed what was

their

Close contacts with their neigh

bours led the nomads of the High
Altai
into
mixed
marriages,
and

Indeed,

cally pleasing objects.

neighbours'

added

their

own

art,

then

colour

and

interpretations.
Thus,
they
found
place
in
their own creations for
griffins and sphinxes borrowed from
Western Asia, and for patterns of
lotus flowers, ornamental palm-trees'
and
geometrical
designs
whose
origins were
in the countries of
the near East and in Egypt.
It

is

possible

that

the

artistic

leanings of the people of the High

Altai were stimulated by the abun
dance of materials which lay close
at
hand.
Stock-raising
provided

It constitutes an excellent corrective

them

to

felt.
They
fashioned
high-quality
leathers and furs.
Their forests pro

the

Scythian
of

one-sided

art

artifacts

was

notion

matter

fashioned

that

merely

from

metal,

bone or clay.

In their choice of images and

subjects, the Altaian artists followed
the

so-called

"animal

style"

of

Scythian art.
The outstanding quaJity of the many everyday articles
found in their tombs, of their clothes

and of the trappings of their horses,

indicates

tered

to

that

the

artistic

creation

nomads to an

mat

unusual

degree, and that they spent their

whole lives surrounded by aestheti

36

with

source

of

out

in

ceremonial

in

decorated

bridle

had

pieces,
The

pasted

felt

shabrack

med

mask;

wooden

(saddle-cover)
leather

and

were

multi-coloured

while

its

cheek-

over with gold leaf.

saddle-cushions

with

work,

leather

carved

the

trim

appliqu

covers

and

sheaths were stitched to the horse's

mane and tail.

best in

and

local

decked

trappings, it must have been a fan

tastic sight.
Its head was enclosed

excellent

The
the

clothing

Altaians

and

were

footwear

decorated

patches of coloured felt, fur

leather, and embroidered with

of

with

and
pat

terns in wool or sinew threads bound

round with strips of tinfoil.

Their felt
carpets and wall-hangings, also exe
cuted in appliqu work, were colour
ful masterpieces, decorating the walls
and floors of their mobile homes, and

even the wooden legs of their low,

collapsible tables were carved in the
shape of tigers.

Colours also figured in the leather

and fur pouches in which they stored
cheese and other produce, and in
their purses containing hempseeds
and imported coriander seeds.
Their

larch

arrow-shafts and shields were painted,

from which the finest carvings could

be
made, while the plant world
placed henna, indigo and madder at
their disposal, and the ground under
their feet yielded ochre, colcothar
and cinnabar as mineral dyes, as

too.
One may well ask whether the
Altaians had a single object un
touched by the hand of an artist.

well as virtually limitless quantities

of gold, silver and other metals, which
they used widely for decorative pur

deer and mountain goats and rams),

whose lively and realistic portraits
reveal the Altaians' great familiarity

poses.

with

As we have seen the riding-horse

was the subject of lavish attentions.

But no less impressive are the ima

ginary
creatures,
devised
out of

duced

the

cedar-wood

and

_Among their images, the favour

ites were beasts of prey (tigers and
wolves), and other wild animals (elk,

their

habits

and

movements.

GAGGLE OF

GRIFFINS

A griffin slaying a deer is a theme

widely used by the nomad artists
of the steppes (see back cover).
Example from Pazyryk at far
left was carved in wood in the 5th

century B.C. and is 35 cms

high.
It shows an abbreviated
form of the subject, with the head
of each animal symbolizing the
entire beast.

The comb, ears and

wings of the griffin are made

from thick leather, as also are the
ears and antlers of the deer.
Points of antlers consist of cocks'

heads on long necks.

Left, two
griffins coil round a frontal piece from
a horse's bridle decoration found
in a tomb at Tuekta in the Altai

mountains.
Right, astonishingly
well-preserved leather griffin's
head with curving beak and large
ears and antlers was unearthed

at Pazyryk.

Photo Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

elements
of
living
animals
and
birdsthe griffins and winged tigers,
to which the Altaians returned more

frequently than the Scythians.

The skills which the Altaian artists

applied in so many creative ways

have survived until today, transmit
ted by succeeding generations from
the mainspring of an art which was
truly popular and never the jealously
guarded

secret

of

few

An outstanding feature of Altaian

art is the

cution of a
involved
all

single
these

piece of work
techniques of

sculpture, as well
different
materials,

as the use of
in
which
an

possibly reflect a period when the

pastoral tribes were at war with
each other.
This age of men in
arms produced its breeds of heroes,
in
whose honour epic tales and
songs must have been composed.
It is not surprising, therefore, that

object could be simultaneously pain

ted in bright colours and pasted
over with strips of gold, tinfoil or

the

silver.

multi-stringed harps and drums.

masters.

The Altaian artist always excelled

in
composition.
With
admirable
ease and virtuosity, the sculptors

manner in which the exe

This
evident

complexity
in

representing
deer's

carved

head

is

in

wooden crest,

griffin
its

particularly

beak

holding
(see

back

burial

musical

The

chambers

instruments,

excavation

also

contained

in the form of

of

the

frozen

tombs of the High Altai revealed the

ancient, original culture of the Altai
nomads, which doubtless had a great
influence on Scythian art as a whole.

bone and horn fitted their

cover) while figures made of soft ma

subjects into the shape of the object

they were decorating, lengthening or
shortening the body of the animal,
enlarging
its
head,
bending
its
fore- and hind- quarters into curves.
The ancient Altaian sculptors passed
unconcernedly from one technique

terials, such as leather and felt, are

Now, the works of the Altaian masters

particularly well represented by the

swans, composed of pieces of col

have found
among the

oured felt,

world art.

in wood,

to

another,

from

excised designs,

shallow

relief to

and then to sculp

ture in the round.

which

may have adorn

ed the canopy of a burial carriage (see

page 47).
Altaian

art

often

another resting-place,
collected treasures of

Mariya P. Zavitukhina

contains scenes

in which beasts of prey and griffins

are falling upon deer, elk, and moun
tain rams and goats.
These mages

DISANTLED ELK

Wooden elk's heads (each just

under 10 cms. long) from Pazyryk
were used as bridle ornaments.
Their antlers have not survived.

The elk figures prominently in

the art of the northern nomads.

Photo The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York

37

HORSES
FOR THE HEREAFTER
by Mikhail P. Gryaznov

FOR many centuries, the immense

expanse of the steppes from
the

river

Danube

to

the

Great

Wall of China formed a single vast

cultural-historical
region.
The nu

merous

tribes

lived

constant

in

of this

region,

who

contact with each

other, differed in their historical past,

as well as in their ethnographic

heritage, but created for themselves
a

culture

which

was

uniform

in

its

general outlines.
This broad uniformity resulted from
the

fact

that

the

culture

had taken

shape through a series of identical

stages of development, which unfol
ded simultaneously across the whole
belt of the steppes.
This process
began in the Aeneolithic period, the
time

of

transition

from

the

Stone

Age to the era of metals. In the

steppes of Eurasia this transition
coincided with that from the system

of

acquisitive

economy

(hunting,

fishing and food-gathering)

productive economy, which

to the
in this

case centred on cattle-breeding.

The uniformity in the historical

development of all. the steppe tribes
became particularly evident in the
time of the Scythians, when the
population of the steppes went over
to the nomadic way of life, became

highly mobile and developed under

conditions

of

extensive

inter-tribal

cultural exchanges.

In recent years, terms such as

"cultures of Scytho-Siberian type"

and
"the
Scytho-Siberian
animal
style" have begun to be used more
and
more
frequently.
However,
there has still been very little study
of the Asian part of the Scytho-

Siberian

in

cultural world.

Scythian

history

Specialists

tend

to focus

their attention pn the monuments of

the northern Black Sea area and the

MIKHAIL

member

PETROVICH

GRYAZNOV,

of the Archaeological Institute of

the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in

Leningrad, has directed excavations of the

tomb-complex of Arzhan (Autonomous Soviet
Republic of Tuva) and of tombs at Pazyryk
in

the Altai mountains

(Siberia).

Professor

of Siberian archaeology at the university of

Leningrad, he is the author of many published

works including a study on the first burial
mound excavated at Pazyryk.

38

problems of the origin of those tribes

which
may
properly
be
called
Scythian.
Discussion
centres
on
the question of the origin of the
Scythians and the composition of
the Scythian animal style.
Until recently, the only undisputed
premise in these arguments was that
Scythian culture and art came into
being in the 7th century B.C. and
that the
attainments of Scythian
culture with its presumed pre-Asiatic
sources slowly spread to the East in
somewhat modified forms.

However, it is also true to say that

scholars have for long been study
ing some remarkable monuments
of the culture of the early nomads
of Siberia, magnificent specimens of
their original art.
Among these are
the
amazing
gold
collection
of

Peter I, the Pazyryk kurgans (burial

mounds) in the Altai (see page 31),
and the bronze objects and megalithic
enclosures of the kurgans of the
Tagar culture on the river Yenisey.
During the last 20 years, monu
ments of the early Scythian period
have

been

discovered

in

Central

and Southern Kazakhstan, as well as

in the western foothills of the Altai
and

in

Tuva.

It

has

become

clear

that cultures of Scythian type came

into being in the East no later than

in Scythia itself.

They were created

and flourished at the same time and

parallel with that culture which was

properly Scythian.

Many Scythian specialists were

surprised by the discovery in 1971,
at different points in the ScythoSiberian

lands,

of three remarkable

monumentsthe
Ptichata Mogila

royal
kurgan
of
in Bulgaria, near

the town of Varna, two rich burials in

the Vysokaya Mogila on the Dnieper

and the
royal
kurgan of Arzhan
in the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Repu
blic.

All

of

these

are dated to the

8th-7th centuries B.C., a time which

precedes the early Scythian period,

and

the

first

two

monuments

are

accepted by the majority of scholars

as being pre-Scythian or Cimmerian
in culture.

Unlike them, the kurgan of Arzhan

belongs to the fully developed cul
ture of Scytho-Siberian type.
It too,
however, belongs not to its "early
Scythian" stage, but to another,
even earlier one.

In order to under

stand the exceptional significance

of these monuments in explaining
the origin and composition of cul
tures of the Scytho-Siberian type,
we need to look at the kurgan of
Arzhan in somewhat greater detail.

Nomad chieftains were often buried

with their horses in some cases

scores of them, as in the great

8th- 7th-century B.C. tomb-complex
at Arzhan in the Sayan mountains
(Autonomous Soviet Republic of Tuva).
Opposite page: remains of Arzhan's
vast circular wooden structure,

120 metres in diameter. Left, plan of

Arzhan showing the honeycomb-like
network of its chambers. Tiny horsefigures indicate where horses were
buried up to 30 in each chamber.
In the central chamber the nomad

chieftain and his queen were buried

with magnificent ceremony. No less
than 6,000 trees were felled to build

the tomb and over 10,000 persons

are thought to have attended
the funeral. Below left, bronze plaque
of a coiled wild beast by a nomad
artist.

Unearthed at Arzhan it is

one of the biggest of its kind

ever found.

Arzhan

biggest
120

is a vast stone tomb, the

in

the

Sayan

in

diameter.

metres

stone

mound,

structure

of

Mountains
Under its

unique

enormous

wooden

dimensions

has been splendidly preserved.

A
large
square
wooden framework,
with an area of more than 65 square
metres,
is placed directly on the
ground.
Seventy other such frame
works are arranged around it in
radial lines and circles.
These toge
ther form a round wooden platform,
about three metres high, which were
covered by a ceiling.
Excavations of the kurgan under
my direction went on for four years.
Although the monument had been
more

than

once

ransacked

and

plundered even in very ancient times,

we discovered a large number of
objects and were able to recreate a
fairly detailed picture of the magni
ficent royal funeral.

Thousands of people gathered at

the place of burial in the month of
September.
In seven to eight days
they felled more than 6,000 treetrunks

huge

and

used

them

to

multi-chambered

build

the

platform.

The central chamber contained, on

a soft litter made of horses' manes

and

tails,

small

framework

with

double walls and a ceiling, in which

the bodies of the king and his queen
were placed in separate sarcophagi
made of hollowed logs.
They were
dressed in rich clothing made of
multicoloured imported fabrics and
costly furs (sable and others).
The
tually

tomb was
nothing of

remained,
been

out

of

plundered.
importance
what

must

Vir
has
have

mass of valuable ornaments:

only one small golden plaque and

pieces of golden leaves, some tur
quoise beads and a bead necklace,
and 20 small turquoise discs, which
were probably the inlay of massive
golden plaques depicting animals.
These plaques were stolen by thei

grave-robbers.

Photo L Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad

39

On three sides around the royal

framework were placed eight hol
lowed logs in which were buried im
portant personages who accompanied
the king.
All except one were old
or indeed very old, and all were dres
sed

in

rich

fur

or

woollen

clothes.

Only in some of the logs had objects

been preserved: these included orna

to the Turks,

ments of gold and turquoise, bronze

arrows, a dagger and some other
items.
Another five similar person

Central

ages

were

buried

in .neighbouring

chambers.

On

the

fourth

framework

horses.
ficent

side

were

Of

stacked

their

harness

ornaments

of the

rich

there

from

six

saddle

and

magni

remain

the

royal

bridle

the

Pacific,

obviously
the king.

of

coloured

These

the

the

kurgan

in

semi-circle.

stone

of

of

nomads

from

stone

and

portrayals of nomad warriors.

This one wears a neck-ring and
ear-rings.
Weapons, including a
dagger and a hatchet, hang from

and

his belt and deer run slantwise round

were

the

There

ruins of

the

stand

are

In the

found

times

more

ruins of

bones

of

of

the

funeral

the

horses'

and

the

celebrations

flesh

funeral

had

feast

been
had

after

eaten

finished.

Such a ritual was widespread among

nomads

from

onwards.

the
If

most

one

ancient

horse

was

tioned to the east of the central one,

eaten on the site of each enclosure,

they

the

15

in

138 horses30 saddle

each

horses

chambers

in

of three
each

and

of

three

chambers,

three

other

horses

in

the

last one.
The
came

from

them

were

and

are

in

the

each
same

buried

saddles.

There

at

total
the

chamber
tribe.

all

All

of

with their bridles

All were old stallions.

few

harness

ornaments,

number
funeral

exceeded
The

of

those

feast

present

must

have

10,000.

tomb

dence

horses

that

of

Arzhan

the

is clear evi

cultures

of

the

so-

called early Scythian period were

preceded by cultures of an already
fully formed Scytho-Siberian type.
Some scholars may hesitate to attribute

such

monuments in the

Black Seat

but there are wonderful examples of

steppes to an early stage of Scythian'

the

culture,

Scytho-Siberian

art an

enormous

animal

bronze

style

figure

of

a beast of prey rolled into the form of

a ring, and an ivory head of a
bridled horse.

We may also take it that delega

tions from neighbouring countries
took part in the royal funeral.
They

placed their gifts to the deceased in

six

chambers,

north

and

chamber.

positioned

north-east

of

to

the

the

central

In each of these chambers

are the so-called deer stones.

A few deer stones were discovered

in the 19th century not far from

Arzhan.
We also found a fragment
of such

on the

The bridle plates of each group of

horses belong to a particular type,

bers.

and

differ from the harness dress of

of

the

There

bridles
are

are

five

also

different.

remarkable

bronze

top-pieces (perhaps from battle stan

dards), with monumental figures of
mountain rams on them.

In

one

case,

accompanied
elders,

buried

lowed logs.

by

.the

two

beside

horses

were

distinguished
them

in

hol

They had come, obviously -

from some distance, in order to fol

low the king, who was honoured

not only in his own country, but
also beyond its borders.
The par
ticipation of foreign representatives
in
the funerals of great nomad
leaders probably occurred quite fre
quently in the past.

40

but there is no doubt about

the monuments of the Sayano-Altai

region in this regard.
Other monu
ments of this period, of a fully Scy
tho-Siberian type, are also known
in
the
Sayano-Altai
region.
Of
these, the most interesting by far

from two to ten horses were buried.

all the other groups; the ornaments

form, in the Urals.

These are evidently remains of the

sacrificial horses, placed on the site

the

buried

have been found in Mongolia, the

Tuva Autonomous Republic of the
U.S.S.R. and, in a slightly different

horse,
but only fragments of the
skull and bones of the lower part of
the legs.

occasion.

horses

his body.
Many such stones, ranging
in height from half a metre to 3 metres,

Around

enclosures

300 of them.

all the tribes subject to the

kingthose who peopled the moun
tainous steppes of what is now
Tuvagathered for his funeral.
They
arrived with gifts which befitted the

In seven chambers, posi

"Avars"

Arzhan

and

property

groups

of

round

One must suppose that numerous

representative

Even

small

horses were

personal

Siberian taiga

Asia.

few

each

made

tusks.

them, such stones are in fact stylized

i.e. from the coasts of

the

remains of the funeral feast.

and

some

century B.C.) unearthed in the

Mongolian steppe. Although named
from the figures of deer inscribed on

One can judge the numbers of

participants in the funeral by the

than

boar

four sides of a "deer stone" (c. 8th

"Rum", envoys from the Black Sea

steppes and from faraway Byzan
tium, are said to have been present.

saddle straps, some gold and silver,

or

Drawing shows design on the

An
ancient Turkic
epitaph, for
example,
informs us that at the
funeral of the first Turkic kagan or
leader,
there
gathered
"weeping
and groaning people" from all the
ends of the earth, including some
from tribes and peoples not subject

stone

ceiling
The

in the Arzhan tomb

of one

deer

of its cham

stones

have

the

appearance of a round or rectan

gular pillar or a slab-shape,d stone,
representing
a
warrior
with
his
weapons in conventionalized form.
They range in height from half a
The lower part of the stone is
"belted" with a thong, which has a
bow, a dagger, a hatchet and other
weapons suspended from it.
At the
top, where the face of the warrior
should be, there are usually three
small parallel oblique lines.
On the
sides are ear-rings and lower down
a
necklace or pendant.
On the
surface

figures of a

of

the

stone

the

noble deer and some

times other animals are often repre

sented.

Thus

the

representations

of

deer

on the

Most deer stones have been found

in the steppes of Mongolia, and also

many in Tuva.
They have also been
unearthed
in
the
adjoining lands
beyond Lake Baikal and in the moun
tainous Altai.
Further west, only
isolated examples occur as far as the
southern

stone
are

side

Urals.

In the

representations

still

more

Urals, these

of

warrior

conventionalthe

of the stone

flat

bears representa

tions of only a hatchet and a dagger,

with sometimes a belt.

It

is

true

Northern

that

the

Caucasus

steles

are

in type to deer stones,

represent
a
somewhat

very

of the

close

but they
individual

variant of conventional warrior repre

metre to three metres.

smooth

no

stone.

name

of

deer

stone, although very often there are

sentations.

Yet

another

variant

of

such sculptures existed further to the

west.

One of these has been found

in Romania, and another in Bulgaria

in the mound of the Ptichata Mogila

kurgan mentioned above.

The monumental sculpture of the
Asian and Black Sea steppes, inclu

ding its conventional image of the

warrior, emerged and developed at
the very beginning of the formation
of the early Scytho-Siberian nomad
culture.
The
the evolution

consecutive stages in
of this warrior image

followed similar lines across the wide

expanse
the

of the steppes.

Scytho-Siberian

Similarly,

animal

style,

despite
all
its variety, developed
uniformly across the vast territory
stretching from the Danube to the
Great Wall of China.

Monuments known to belong to

the initial period of Scythian culture
are still very few in number in the
steppes both of Asia and the Black
Sea area.
It is still impossible, on
the

basis of the finds in the Arzhan

tomb and some less significant monu

ments of the Altai, to give a full
picture of the origin and composition
of the Scytho-Siberian type cultures,

altough some important conclusions

can now be drawn.

It can no longer be said that the

Scytho-Siberian cultures formed in
the 7th century B.C. or later spread
from a single centre in different di
rections, including the East.
Secon
dly, it is clear that the determining
factor in the development of the
steppe population at that time was
the transition to a new economy
based on nomadic cattle-breeding.
This stimulated the development of
new farming methods and cultural
forms.

It is difficult to be precise about

the movements and practices of par
ticular tribes, but it is clear that from

the 8th century B.C. onwards, similar

cultures
of
Scytho-Siberian
type
emerged
and
developed
simul
taneously.
Extensive inter-tribal ex

changes which occurred both peace

fully and by means of wars and
plundering raids meant that the cul
tural acquisitions of one tribe became
widely distributed among the other
tribes.
The

ancient

tribes

of

the

Asian

steppes were obviously creators and

constructors of cultures of ScythoSiberian type to as great an extent
as their contemporaries, the Scy
thians.
It is even possible that the
contribution which Asian tribes such
as the Altaians and Tuvinians made

to the formation

of Scytho-Siberian

art and culture was sometimes more

significant than that

Scythians themselves.

made

by the

Indeed one might well question

whether European Scythia was, as
many people have hitherto believed,

a centre or focus of the ScythoSiberian territory.

After all, it was
situated on the far periphery of the
Scytho-Siberian
territory
and
its
proximity to and close contacts with

Mediterranean
some

extent

civilization
have

may

repressed

to
the

creative originality of the Scythians.

Mikhail P. Gryaznov

41

SHAMANS
The art of the steppes portrays the griffin in an infinite variety

AND

of forms that vividly convey the force and ferocity of this

mythical beast. With its powerful eagle's beak and sharp

eye, this head of a griffin embellishes the handle of a
5th-century B.C. Scythian sword, unearthed in the Kuban
region, to the east of the Black Sea.
Photo "Miysl" Publishing House. Moscow

42

SHAMANISM

epic journeys
to a legendary land
by Grigory M. Bongard-Levin and Edvin A. Grantovsky
THE highly original culture of
the Scythians was influenced
by

other

peoples and

in its

turn exerted a considerable influence

not

only

on

the

Ancient

classical
East,

societies and

but,

to

an even

greater extent, on the vast tribal

world of Europe and northern Asia.

The Scythians possessed a vast

collection of epic tales in which their
spiritual culture was reflected.
And
although the Scythian epic itself has
not come down to us, the search for

traces of it is quite feasible.

This
the

search

ethnic

is made possible by

links

between

the

tribes

and peoples who lived in the south

Russian steppes during the Scythian
epoch and by the extensive contact
between the
Scythians and their
neighbours.
The latter ranged from
the population of the forest zone in
the north of Eurasia, whose descen

dants

preserved

their

old

folklore

traditions until recent times, to the

Hellenes (ancient Greeks) in the south,
with their rich ancient literature.

The varied

accounts of the Scy

found

in

ancient

Arimaspean

GRIGORY

LEVIN,

warriors

MAXIMOVICH

Vice-President

of

Certain Scythian mages worked

their way into the subjects of Hellenic
mythology, while some characters of
Greek myth share the attributes of
similar figures in Scythian mythology
and have "moved" from the places
they inhabited in more ancient Greek
tradition to the Scythian North.
It is fortunately possible to find
confirmation of the Scythian origin
of the motifs mentioned above among
the peoples of north-eastern Europe
and Siberia, far from the regions
of Scytho-Hellenic contact.
The folklore of these peoples fea
tures conceptions of one-eyed people
similar
to the Arimaspeans,
and

of winged monsters like the goldguarding

griffins.
These
images
included

and

BONGARD-

some

Greek

similar

which

and

traits,

are

are

close

endowed

such

as

the

to

with

death-

bearing flying maidens, similar to the

gorgons, the winged daughters of a
Titan

and also the cold wind whose

abode,
the

like that of Boreas,

north wind

in

god of

later Greek tradi

tion, is a cave.
Can

literature

make
particular
mention
of epic
kings, heroes of Scythian legends,
the gods of the Scythian pantheon
and fantastical beings, such as the
one-eyed

epic.

the

The Scythians also visited Greece.

Ancient
writers and philosophers
often made use of the image of
Anacharsis, a Scythian whom the
Greeks included among the Seven
Wise Men of Antiquity.
thians

the griffins which guarded a hoard

of gold.
These accounts attested
the existence among the Scythians
of complex mythological and religious
conceptions and of a richly developed

such

coincidences

be

acci

dental when they occur in the legends

of

countries

as

remote

from

each

other as Hellas and the forest regions

in the north of Eurasia, in legends
rooted in ancient literary traditions as
well as in those which have only
been recorded by modern folklorists
and anthropologists?
The Volga-Ural steppes, as far as

the International

Association for Sanskrit studies, is engaged

the

on

Oriental

beyond the Urals were inhabited by

Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the

the Issedones and were known to the

research

U. S. S. R.

at

the

Institute

Unesco

of

consultant

and

winner of the . Jawaharlal Nehru prize, for

the promotion of international understanding
he is an authority on the cultural problems and
history of Central Asia and India.

A book

he has written jointly, with Edvin A. Gran

tovsky,
From Scythia to India (Moscow,

1974) gives a fuller treatment of the subject

of this article.

EDVIN
a

ARVIDOVICH

specialist in

the

GRANTOVSKY,

ancient history of Iran,

Ural

mountains,

and

the

land

Hellenes through the stories of the

Scythians and the Greek Aristeas,
who had been in Scythia in the 7th
century and had obviously reached
the Issedones.

The

forests

from the northern Black Sea area.

The contacts between the Scy

thians and the forested Volga-Ural
regions from which the Finno-Ugric
languages spread explain the many
word borrowings from the steppe
peoples

the

Ural

moun

this connexion

that

"those of the

which

have

been found

in

the Finno-Ugric languages, borrow

ings connected with both the mate
rial and spiritual culture and religious
and mythological conceptions.

These borrowings include the pas

sage of the name of the Wind God
("Vata") among the Eastern IndoEuropeans and Scythians into the
name of the North Wind ("Vat") used

by

the

In

Ugrians

addition,

beyond

the

Urals.

stories about "old man

North Wind" are very close to what

ancient

literature

tells

us

about

the "Boreas" who brought icy cold

into Scythia.
Both of them find a
traveller, envelop him in their furious
breath and are capable of sweeping
him off his feet, carrying him away
or destroying him.
There

can

be

no

doubt

that this

"Boreas", a character of purely Scy

thian mythology, was identified by
the

Greeks

the

Boreas.

with their North Wind,

What do we

learn from archaelo-

gical evidence?
In the area round
the Kama River, for example, archaeo
logists have found cult figures of
creatures

which

are

half-bird,

half-

beast, with the head of a wolf or a

dog.
Winged beasts or "griffins" are
also a frequent subject of Scythian
art, in which they usually combine
the features of an eagle and a lion

(or some other "feline" beast of prey).

However,

several

early

Scythian

artifacts from the Black Sea area (of

the 6th-5th centuries B.C.) combine

the image of a bird-beast with the

features of a dog.
And it is no acci

dent that Aeschylus (6th-5th centu

ries

near

tains, evidently those along the Kama

and Volga rivers, were inhabited by
the Argippeans.
Herodotus recounts
in

region and the Volga-Kama forests

is confirmed by archaeological finds
in these regions of "imported" objects

B.C.)

in his Prometheus Bound

calls the bird-like griffins "silent" or

"unbarking" dogs (unlike the tradi
tional ancient description of griffins
as being like lions).

Among his many published works is his study.

Scythians who go to them (the Argip

peans) have to employ seven trans
lators and seven languages".
The

Ancient literature offers us signi

ficant information regarding the "geo
graphical" description of Scythia and
the lands beyond it if we base our

The Early History of the Iranian

Near Asia (Moscow, 1970).

existence in the Scythian epoch of a

selves on the work of various authors k

trade

of Antiquity.

Central Asia and the Scythians, is engaged

In research at the Institute of Oriental Studies

of the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R.

Tribes of

route as far as the south Ural

43

From south to north lay regions

inhabited by peoples who really existed,
such as the Argippeans and the
Issedones.
Beyond them, however,
and as far as the great northern
mountains, usually called the Ripas,
there

lived

fabulous

tribes and fan

tastical creatures, including the now

familiar Arimaspeans,
griffins and
others.
Here also lay the abode of
"Boreas".
These regions had been
abandoned by nature, were swathed
in

darkness

this

was

and

the

covered

kingdom

in

snow;

of deepest

winter.

But

even

direction

of

further

the

north,

Ripas,

the

in

the

golden

peaks of which reached the sky, and

around which turned the sun and the

stars,
and

on

the

beyond
warm

the

mountainous

shore

them

of

the

lay a

climate,

free

heights

Northern Sea

country with a
from

the

cold

language and its dialects, and

All this leads to the conclusion that

the nature of the Gods in the Scythian

pantheon.

there is a common origin to the Indolranian legends about countries in

thian

and

the Far North and the tradition about

Iranian
epics
and
traditions also
correspond
precisely
to
Scythian
conceptions
about the North.
In
the two great epics of India, the
Mahabharata and the Rmyana, for
example,
we find a geographical

remote
regions
lying beyond the
Scythians.
This
whole
cycle
of
interrelated concepts has a single
archaic religious basis.

The

details

of

some

Indian

and

peoples,
doms

deserts,

and

and

countries

and

beyond fabulous king

tribes,

stand

the sacred

mountains of Meru.
Their golden
peaks thrust into the sky and around
them revolve the heavenly bodies.
Beyond the mountains of Meru lies
the Northern Sea, identified with the

"divorced from all evil, indifferent to

boreans"

all concepts of honour and dishonour,

wonderful in appearance and abound
ing in vitality."

woods
of

and

ancient

forests

lived

tradition.

The

sun here rose and set only once a

year: the day lasted six months, and
the night the six remaining months.
During the day the inhabitants sowed
crops in the morning, cut them in the

afternoon and

in the evening gath

ered fruit from the trees.

way, which elements of it belong to

which people?

The Ripa mountains might corres

pond to the Urals, while the legends
about their gold and the griffins who
guard it certainly reflect notions about
the mining of gold in regions round
the

Urals,

notion

which

is borne

out by ancient workings in these

regions.
But the Urals range runs
from

south

to

north,

whereas the

Ripa mountains extend in latitude

right across the land to the north of
the Scythian world.
The Northern Sea which stretched

beyond them may be an echo of

what the Scythians knew about the
Arctic Ocean, although the existence
there of a bountiful country with a
warm climate is a piece of fantasy.
Yet day and night last a half-year each
in this country, and it is difficult or
indeed impossible to treat this as
anything but the reflection of a real
fact, namely the rotation of the Polar

day and night (although, of course,

they do not last "uninterruptedly" for
half a year each).
The
nian

ancestors
and

Indian

of the
tribes

ancient
who

Ira
lived

beside the ancestors of the Scythians

had

much

in

There,
Meru,

beyond

over

the

mountains of

whose

summits

"the

golden haired sun rises for half a

year"... "the day lasts half a year and

the night as long", and "one night

Whose creation is this "geographi

cal" picture?
That of the Greeks or
the Scythians?
Or, to put it another

common with them in

terms of economy, social structure,

culture' and religion.

the

three

traditions,

Ocean.

They relate how far away to the

its

of

tains

panorama".

blessed and holy people, the "Hyper

In

each

north of India, beyond the real moun

foundation in the form of a "northern

White, or Milky Sea.

On its shores
and on the northern slopes of the
Meru live a fabulous, blessed people,

winds and infinitely fertile.

In

Indian,
Iranian and Scythian, the
whole panorama is arranged in the
same order, proceeding from real
geographical areas in the south to
the legendary lands by the Northern

and one day together equal a year".

The stationary polar star is mentioned

as also are the position of constella

tions which can only be observed in
the Far North,

above the latitude of

55 North.
These descriptions of the
same inaccessible northern country
are "communicated" by the sacred
bird

Garuda

to

the

hermit

Galava

before carrying him off to this far

away "land of blessedness".
It is important to note that the
information about "polar phenomena"
in Indian epic tales goes back to a
time

when

it

could

not

have

been

influenced
by
Indian
astronomy.
Therefore, the "polar" motifs in the
tales of India must be seen as "infor

is

In each tradition, this ocean

inaccessible

to

mortals

and

their

attempts to make their way there end

either in failure

bold

hero,

or in the death of a

whose

route

takes

him

through
the territory
of fabulous
tribes and supernatural creatures.
At this point we have a clearer idea
of the "geographical" distribution of
those characters whom the Scythians,
and

after them

the Greeks,

located

between Scythia and the northern

mountainsthe death-bearing mai
dens

who

lived

in

darkness,

the

Arimaspeans, the griffins and others.

The Indian story-tellers, for exam

ple, warned that in the foothills of
the Meru there lay a deserted region
of gloom, which filled mortals with
fear

of

the

dark.

Monsters,

vam

pires, female cannibals and evil giants

inhabited this dreadful place.
But
barrier

the mage of the "winter"

has practically disappeared

from the stories of torrid India.

The

legends of the Iranians, however, a

people geographically and ethnically
closer to the Scythians, mention the
fatal

hard

frost

of

winter,

which

comes from the great northern moun

tains.
They also refer to the death
in

the foothills of heroes who freeze

in the snow carried by the hostile

wind.
This role is obviously played
in Scythian legends by the North
Wind, which blows from the slopes
of the Ripas and destroys the traveller.

mation" gained from the north.

It

is

notable

mentions

that

several

Herodotus also

times

that

it

is

The whole epic and mythological

setting in which these polar allusions

impossible to penetrate the northern

appear in early Indian tradition indi

cates that they belong to the legends

the

which the ancestors of Indian tribes

had preserved since the time when

they were neighbours of related tribes
living to the north.
In the

ancient

Iranian Avesta (or

Zend Avesta) together with its affi

liated works of Zoroastrian literature,

similar mythological motifs have also

been preserved.
tion

These include men

regions beyond Scythia because of

snows

and

the

coid.

unusual features.

We find

of the blessed abode of a fabu

lous people who see the sun rise and

set only once a year and for whom a
day and a night last a year.
Their

excessive

He also held the view that in general

people did not live there.
But the
north of Europe, as far as the Arctic
Ocean, was inhabited long before
the pre-Scythian and the Scythian
epochs.
Even the Scythians referred
to several "peoples" as living there,
although they endowed them with

stories

in

that

between

the

Indian and Iranian

there

is

this theme

direct

and one

link

of the

benevolent land is situated near cold

epic cycles, which concludes with

the victorious king (Yudhisthira in

countries, where the winter lasts for

the

10 months and there are two months

Iranian

and arriving alive in the blessed land

Mahabharata,

epic)

and

leaving

Khosrow

his

in

kingdom

On the basis of the remaining

fragmentary
evidence
about
the
Scythians and their language, as well

of cold summer,

beside

thern mountains.

These mountains,

as the parallels within the Indo-lranian

which

play the

same time, the heroes who accom

language system, scholars have estab

lished the basic features of the Scy

same "astronomical" role as in Indian

pany him perish in the snow, which

according to
Iranian legend, and

44

great nor

reach the heavens,

and Scythian tradition.

of

the

northern

mountains.

At the

CYCLOPS Vs.
WINGED
SENTINELS

Far beyond Scythia,

according to legend,
lived fabulous creatures

such as the Arimaspeans

and the griffins.

The
winged griffins guarded
a store of gold from
the giant one-eyed
Arimaspeans who were
always trying to steal it.
Legends of their struggles
entered the mythology
of many peoples, as is
shown by these strikingly
similar scenes of combats

between the giant

Cyclops and the griffins,
found in two distant

places.
The one above
adorns a gold ritual
headdress from a burial

mound at Great Blisnitza,

in the region east of the

Black Sea; the other
comes from a relief on

a tomb in southern Italy.

Both works date from the

4th century B.C.

Photos "Miysl" Publishers,
Moscow

makes the route

legends about him obviously emerged

talks

to the north from the Scythian king

dom impassable.

independently. Herodotus also knew

about the "journeys" of Abaris and
related that "he did not take any
thing for food".
But Herodotus pre
ferred to give a more detailed account
of that other legendary figure, Aristeas, relating how, while the body
of Aristeas lay in one place, he
himself appeared in another, or how,
while following Apollo, Aristeas took

it, their life and their customs.

also

to Herodotus,

Other chosen heroes and righteous

men could only reach this land on
their death.

However, there existed

another "means" of getting there, for

a

limited time,

and this means was

available only to certain renowned

sages, priests and hermits.
These
miraculous "journeys" also formed
the subjects of Indian, Iranian and
Scythian legends. Such, for example,
were the exploits of Galava, Narada
and

Shuka

in

the Mahabharata and

of Arda-Viraz in Zoroastrian tradition.

In the

ancient world there was a

story

about

who

"arrived"

the

Scythian,

from

the

Abaris,

land of the

Hyperboreans.
He had "made his
way across rivers, seas and impas
sable places, as if he were travelling
through air" and during this time had
performed purifications, had driven
out
pestilent
diseases,
predicted
earthquakes,
calmed
the
winds
and

soothed

The

the

waves of the sea.

"information"

about

Abaris

was basically preserved by the Pytha

gorean brotherhood, who included it

among their conceptions about the
migration of the soul.
But the

on the form of a raven.

The

basis

Aristeas
the

of the

were

time

of

legends about

traditions
the

formed

earliest

in

contact

about the tribes which

inhabit

The author of the poem was also

familiar with the subjects of the myths
and the epic which were current
among the Scythians and their neigh
bours.
The "flight" of Aristeas to
the

land

of

the

blessed

Northern

people is considered by several scho

lars to reflect conceptions about the
"journeys" of the soul.
These con
ceptions had undoubtedly been bor
rowed from cults of a shamanic type.
"During ceremonies", writes the
eminent Soviet anthropologist Sergei

between Greeks and Scythians. There

was a definite similarity between
several aspects of Scythian religious
beliefs and practice and the Greek
cult of Apollo, of which Aristeas was

Tokarev, "the shaman frequently falls

an

rity
that
led to the widespread
dissemination of the legends about

in his seeing far-away countries and

talking loudly about hisjourneyings."
A particular role was played by the

Aristeas.

cult of birds: the shaman or his soul

initiate.

And

it was this simila

The poem Arimaspea, reputed to

have been written by Aristeas, also
mentioned the journey to the land
of "the blessed people" lying beyond
Scythia and the great mountains on
the

shore

of

the

Northern

Ocean.

The poem is in fact concerned with

a real journey through Scythia and

unconscious;

this is bound to make

the spectators think of the flight of

his 'soul'; the delirium and the hallu
cinations of the shaman often consist

"set

the

off"

on

form

of

their

distant

bird

(most

travels

in

often,

raven), "flying over" familiar or mythi

cal countries.

Shamanism
was widespread in
Antiquity among the peoples of the
north, in Asia and in Europe.
Butw

the religions of the ancient Indians, t

45

Jranians and Scythians belong as a

whole to another type despite some
similarities in their epic and myth to
the images of "northern mythology".
However, a good many Iranian and
Indian specialists consider that the
religious
practice
of the Indians,
Iranians and Scythians had features
that were similar to northern shama

nism, especially
Ugrians.

that of the

Finno-

Historians know something about

the

earliest

ancestors

connexions between the

of

the

ancient

Indians,

Iranians and Scythian tribes and the

ancestors of the Finno-Ugrians. They
know, for instance, of many simila
rities between the languages of these
peoples.
Among these is the name
of the

ecstatic

medium with the aid

of which the shamans and priests

put themselves into a state of ritual
possession.

Various plants were used for this

purpose, including hemp.
The Scy
thians also were aware of these pro
perties of hemp and used it in cult
ceremonies.
The Greek lexicogra

pher Hesychius informs us that hemp

is "the Scythian smoking plant" and
is so powerful that it makes all parti
cipants in this ritual sweat.
The
Western neighbours of the Scythians,
the

inhabitants

of

Thracia,

used

hemp in preparing a sacred libation.

This is what Herodotus has to tell

us about the practice: the Scythians

"place three poles leaning towards
each other, and pull onto them strips
of woollen felt, stretching these to
fit as tightly as possible.
They then
throw

red-hot

stones

into

vessel

standing between these poles and the

woollen strips.
"In their land grows hemp a plant
very like flax, but much coarser and
taller; it grows wild there and is also
sown by the people... The Scythians
take the seeds of the hemp, crawl
under the felt strips and there throw
the

seeds

onto the

heated

stones;

these seeds give out such a vapour

as no Grecian steam-bath can exceed.

The Scythians enjoy this and howl

loudly..."
This probably reflects a ritual cere
mony which is reminiscent of shamanic practices.
If this is the case,
then the "howl" represents the song
of the servant of the cult, in a state

of ecstasy which is attained by the

stupefying effect of the smoke from
roasting
hemp seeds.
Herodotus'
account and the

ritual

nature of the

custom he describes are confirmed by

the excavations of the famous Soviet

On wings
of ecstasy
According to Scythian mythology a fabulous
land where day and night each lasted half
a year lay far to the north in the polar
regions.
It was a bountiful country that
could be reached only by heroes and sages.
This belief, recorded by many Greek and
Roman authors of antiquity, closely
resembles those found in ancient Indian

and Persian mythologies and epics, which

describe an earthly paradise lying beyond
towering mountains towards the north.
How were the priests, sages and heroes
to reach this reputedly inaccessible land?
According to the Shamanic traditions of
the Asian steppes the journey could be
accomplished by entering into an ecstatic
state, the secret of which was known to the

shaman.

Soothsayer and healer, the

shaman could transform himself into a bird

(Siberian shaman in drawing at left wears

costume with sleeves representing wings).

archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, in the

Altai mountains of Siberia (see p. 34).
In the

burial

mounds of the Altai

(5th-4th centuries B.C.) the perma

frost layer has preserved some small
huts made of poles lashed together
at the top (two of the huts had
covers on them, one of woollen felt

and the

these

46

other of hide).

graves

copper

In

one of

vessels

were

Photo and drawings "Miysl" Publishers. Moscow.

found

under such

contained

stones

structure:

which

they

had

been

in a fire and partially charred hemp

seeds; in addition, a leather bag,
containing hemp seeds, was tied to
one of the hut poles.
Similar shamanic
ceremonies,
performed
in
yurts or chums (conical pole-huts
used by the Asian nomads) have been
described by anthropologists.
Facts

are

also

known

about

the

use of other plants as a means of

achieving ecstasy during cult cere
monies

and

Indian

gious texts record

from

and

Iranian

reli

a legend derived

common

source

about

the

theft of a cult plant, the soma-plant, .

from the great mountains by the
sacred bird Garuda, also called Sh'ena

in the Rgveda, a collection of Vedic

hymns to the deities.
Iranian tradi
tion

calls the same creature Saena,

and

later

Simurg.

Legends
were

similar

told

about

to

those

Garuda

in

which
ancient

India and Simurg in Iran were cur

rent
among
the Scythians.
This
huge

of

"wonder-bird"

the

was

mythological

also

images

one

used

by the forest tribes of north-eastern

Europe,
the
Urals and the land
beyond the Urals.

Photos L. Tarassova Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad.

The same creature is also depicted

on the large number of metal plaques
portraying birds and bird-like crea
tures, on the bodies of which the face

or the standing figure of a man is

often represented.
Excavations have

shown that such subjects were quite

common even in the Scythian epoch.
This mythology and epic reflects
not just legendary conceptions and
the products of fantasy but also
real facts about the surrounding
world.
The mythology of the Scy
thians, as much ' as that of other
peoples, was a characteristic combi
And his soul, leaving his body, took flight.
One way in which the shaman attained a
state of ecstasy was by inhaling the fumes
of hemp.
The remains of a "hemp" tent
(seen at left) were found in a tomb at

Pazyryk.
They consist of the tent poles
and a receptacle for burning hemp seeds.
In Indian legends the journey to the mythical
country was accomplished on the back of
sacred birds such as Garuda (above left

in a 19th-century Indian miniature).

In
northern Europe and the Urals, the legendary
bird was depicted on metal plaques (drawings
opposite page).
These plaques shaped as
bird-like creatures often bore representations
of the face or standing figure of a man.
Above, felt swans from a tomb at

Pazyryk.
They were used as carriage
decorations 2,400 years ago.

nation of fantasy and the rudiments

of scientific thought.

Not only did the Greeks expand

their geographical horizon through
their contacts with the Scythians
but, as a result of their familiarity
with Scythian epic, myth and cosmo
logy, even in semi-legendary form,
they acquired new information about
the geography of the remote forest
zone, the northern Arctic Ocean, and

the "polar phenomena".

The "Scythian source" may be

viewed as the first stage in the his
tory of European science's know
ledge of the Far North.
And although
new

store
Latin

information

was

added to this

later in Antiquity, Greek and

authors,
in
describing the

northern

countries,

continued

for

many centuries to refer to the tradi

tion which went back to the 7th-6th

centuries

B.C.

information

and

was

based

on

acquired from the Scy

thian world of the time.

G.M. Bongard-Levin
and E.A. Grantovsky

47

THE OSSETES .SCYTHIANS

OF THE 20TH CENTURY

by Vasily
Ivanovich Abaev

THE Scythian people did not disap

pear from the face of the earth
without leaving a trace.
If we look at an

ethnographic
map
of the Caucasus,
which is a patchwork of more than
forty different nationalities, we find in

the" central part a small group of people,

known

as the

Ossetes,

whose popula

tion numbers 400,000.

Don and the Sea of Azov.

the

great

The

Mongol

invasion

and the

cam

paigns of Tamerlane were a disaster for

It was established long ago that the

Ossetes are in no way related to their
Caucasian neighbours.
Immigrants from
the steppes of south Russia, they are
descendants of the Alani who, according
to Josephus a Jewish scholar and his
torian of the first century A.D.were a
Scythian tribe living in the vicinity of the

During

the Caucasus, where they established

what was for the times a powerful
feudal
state.
They
were
converted
to Christianity in the tenth century, and
during the Middle Ages they main
tained active relations with Byzantium,
Georgia and Russia.

migrations

of the

the

Alani:

was

one

part

annihilated

another
were

fled

in

to

known

of the population

the incessant wars;

Hungary,

as the

'As"

where

they

and retained

The
from

A.D.,

remaining Alani made their way

Eastern

VASILY

Europe to the foothills of

IVANOVICH

ABAEV,

well-

known Soviet scholar and orientalist, is a spe

cialist

in

Iranian civilization and in

the lan

guage and folklore of the Ossetes.

He is

foreign lands.
The Alani who remained in the Cau

One cannot help comparing the vast

and
had

the Danube in the

been the home of

west, which
the Scytho-

Sarmatian tribes during the last millen

nium of the pre-Christian period, with
the handful of narrow ravines which
was all that was left to the Ossetes
in the 18th century A.D.
Here,
about

indeed
the

Pitsunda,

is

food

reverses

on

Fate

monograph

Scythian world, which is now reduced

linguistic

dealt

is

At

and is the author of 250 studies Including a

trees

coast,

remains

of

pine

Sea

little

Scytho-European

of

Black

thought

fortune !

Studies of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences

on

grove

the

for

of

scientific adviser to the Institute of Linguistic

once-enormous

similarly

with

the

all that
forest.

ancient

to a tiny group of Ossetes, lost in the

geography.

themselves

left

no

north

of

dreds

of Scythian and Sarmatian com

mon

the

Black

Sea

contain

hun

nouns.

As eminent an authority as the Russian

philologist Vsevolod Miller and also spe
cingly demonstrated that knowledge of
the Ossetic tongue makes interpretation
of these inscriptions easier and that

territory between the Altai in the east

centuries

Scythians

cialists from other countries have convin

some

fifth

The

written
texts.' But
Greek epigraphic
inscriptions
dating
from
the
period
when the Scythians occupied the lands

joined in the expeditions of the maraud

ing Mongolians and was dispersed in

of the Alani moved across Europe as

far as France and Spain.
The French
name Alain and the English Alan date
from that period.

and

Two priceless treasures of their remote

past have, nevertheless, survivedtheir
language
and
their
folklore.

their ethnic
individuality for another
several hundred years.
A third part

casus took refuge in the narrow passes

of the central regions.

fourth

Caucasian "mountains.

they
can
in
fact
be
considered as
examples of the language of the ancient
Ossetes.

A number of words still used by the

Ossetes, such as "farn" (paradise), "hsar"
(military prowess), "andon" (iron), "aldar"
or "ardar"
(master), "liman" (friend),

^'furt" (son), "fida" (father), "sag" (stag)

"sar"

(head),

"stur"

(big),

are

easily

recognized in these inscriptions.

Modern

Ossetic

also

provides

the

key to the meaning of many names on

the map of the region between the
Black

Sea

and

the

Sea of Azov.

The

names of the Don, the Dnieper and

the Dniester are easier to understand,
for

example,

when

we

know

that

in

Ossetic and in this language alonethe

word for "river" is "don".

Traces of the Scythian world as evident

HERODOTUS AMONG THE SCYTHIANS continued from page w

detailed elements cast separately, sol
dered together in a composite article,
and then carefully polished.
The battle scene, which is depicted
in

relief,

is

treated

with meticulous

attention to detail: the decorations on

the

weapons

and

clothing

of

the

warriors,

and even the curls of their

hair and

beards,

are engraved with

Similar virtuosity is to be found in

the execution of the Chertomlyk vase,

the frieze in particular.

of

men

and

All the fig

horses

were

moulded separately and only arranged

in a composition when they were
soldered to the vessel.

The chief interest of the objects pro

duced by the jewellers of the northern
Black

Sea

coast

lies

in the themes

which they represent, and in the light

which they throw on this or that
aspect of Scythian life.
Finds

from

the

burial

mounds

teach us much about Scythian wea

pons, clothes and ornaments, but the
picture isso to speak unfinished
and lacking in depth.
On the other
hand, the scenes in relief portrayed by
the metal-workers show the objects
found
by
archaeologists
actually

48

of their existence.
There

can

be

no

doubt

that

all

these objects had their origins in an

ancient culture and, more specifically,
jn Greek craftsmanship.
In style and
tradition, they were classically Greek,

and they could only have been pro

extreme accuracy.

urines,

being used, and thus provide a fasci

nating glimpse of the Scythians as
they really were, at different moments

duced in a context of Hellenic notions

and capacities, which conditioned all

stages of their production.
Even
their secondary details, such as the
ornamental motifs of palms, acanthusplants and wattled designs, were
essentially Greek.

time and almost unanimously been

considered by scholars familiar with
the history of the region north of the
Black Sea to represent the Scythians
themselves.

The
Scythians
were
certainly
warriors,
and many images show
them in battle or resting in the middle
of their campaigns.
But the artists
also depicted more peaceful times,
and the Chertomlyk vase shows them
engaged in what may well have been
a typical nomad activity, roping and
hobbling their horses.
Hunting scenes were also depicted.
A silver vessel from Solokha shows a

Many of the objects in metalware

group of Scythian horsemen, accom

panied by their dogs, at grips with a

were, however, Greek neither in form

fantastic lion-like creature with horns,

nor in function. The spherical vessels

found at Kul Oba closely resemble the

which has seized a horse by the leg.^

One hunter brandishes a spear, ano
ther is taking aim with his bow and
arrow, while their two companions,
similarly armed, join in the fray.

earthenware

vessels

of

the

earliest

Scythian culture, and were doubtless

used in religious ceremonies, while
the torques and the plaques used as
ornaments on clothing had Scythian,
and not Greek significance.

Thus, the majority of these articles

were Greek in execution, but Scythian
in form, while the mages with which
they were decorated have for a long

Some of the small gold plaques

used as decoration for clothing and

found

in

Solokha

the
and

kurgans

of

Chertomlyk

Kul

Oba,

represent

scenes of a completely different kind,

doubtless related to religious cere
monies.

as those found
Ossetes

are

in the language of the

also

to

be

found

in

their

folklore, and more particularly in the

heroic epics which, like other peoples
of the Caucasus, they still relate.
The
heroes of these epics are a race of
warriors known as the Narts.
Vsevolod

Miller

and

the

and

other

ancient

authors.

mention,

enchanted

cup

for

from

All

these

example,

which

queens
beside

an

only

the

most valiant warriors may drink, swordworship, and very similar burial cere

with

narratives

immediately

feature the
woman.

from

reveals

central

It would

other cul

one

salient

character

is

be difficult to find in

other epic poems of the world a female

personality of such stature and strength.

Satna, as she is called, is the essence,

the centre through whom all things

flow.
She is the mother of the people,
the provider and mentor of the principal
THE MOUNTAIN REMEMBERS

heroes, Soslan and Batradz.

Nor

THE

STEPPE

and the guiding force without whose

intervention nothing worthy of mention

Much

of the folklore and tales of the

can

Ossetes, a small group of mountain

people in the Caucasus, originates in

the epics of the ancient Scythians of

the

steppes.

honoured

Here,

bard

Dris

of the

Tautiev, an

Northern Osse

tian Republic (U.S.S.R.) and one of the

400,000 descendants of the Scythians,
sings to the strains of the "kiatmancha".

be

accomplished.
Without

metal-workers)

throne,

with

seated

mirror in

on

her hand.

In front of her sits a Scythian drinking

what is probably a magic potion from
a horn-shaped cup.
Other plaques feature a similar
drinking-horn,
from
which
two

kneeling Scythians are drinking simul

taneously,
in
what
is
generally
believed to be a ritual oath-taking
such as that described by Herodotus.
By no means all the scenes which
decorate the metal objects found in
the Scythian burial mounds can be
so easily interpreted.
More than a
few of them probably reflect preoccu
pations which lay at a deeper level
than the affairs of everyday life, and
it has been suggested they are ideo
logical or mythological in content,
illustrating the epics which nourished

Scythian society (see page 15).

But let us turn again to the outward
appearance of the Scythians, as they
are portrayed in these images.
They
have regular features, and frequently
severe expressions, long, shoulder-

do

the

Satna,

there

is

the

natural

for

been

handed

surroundings

in

the

adventures

of

the

Narts.

The

wind of the steppes lashes through the

narrative.

the

We

feel

Scythian

the

plains

endlessness

and

hear

stampeding of horses, as a
stags
appears,
pursued
by

of

the

herd of
tireless

hunters.
Narts

had

the

closest

of

rela

tionships
with
the
watery
element.
The founder of their people was a
daughter of Don Bettyr, the ruler of
the depths.
Here, the similarity with
ancient
Scythia
is
remarkable.
The
favourite animal of Narts and Scythians
alike was the stag.
In the Epic the
stag is often referred to as "Astassion"

(the

Eighteen

Horned One).

Curiously

enough, the famous golden stags of

the Scythian animal style have exactly
eighteen branches on their horns.
In

the

ments,
small

absence of chronicles or docu

the

language

settlement

in

and

the

folklore

of a

Caucasus

have

bridged the gap of over 2,000 years,

bringing to us the sounds and images
of the inimitably individualistic world
of the ancient Scythians and Sarmatians.

Obviously so imposing a figure could

only emerge
from
a society where
women occupied a dominant position.
And such, according to the unanimous

Vasily I. Abaev

testimony of ancient authors, was the

society of the Sarmatians and the Mas

"The Sarmatians are governed

by their women",

Sea

of

heroes is indispensable to the Epic of

the Narts.
no Epic.

sagtes.

One of them shows what appears

to be a goddess (women rarely figured
in the imagery of the northern Black

None

also

of present-day Ossetia.
Broad expanses
of sea and steppe are the usual setting

She is the

wise counsellor, the omnipotent sorceress

have

which the Epic of the Narts unfolds bear

any resemblance to the mountainfastness

The

similar

tures

names

to stand
Tomiris,

down by tradition.
She is a product of
the steppe and not of the Caucasus.

monies.

Comparison of the Epic of the Narts

and warrior-maidens,
Zarina,
Amaga
and

whose

French

scholar
Georges
Dumzil
have con
cluded after careful comparative ana
lysis that much of what happens in the
tales of their adventures corresponds
very closely to the Scythian customs
and way of life described by Herodotus

sources

tells us.
Satna thus joins the ranks of
the
Scythian,
Saka
and
Massagete

length

one of these authors

hair and in

cases beards and

the

majority of

moustaches.

Their double-breasted jackets,

caftans,

also

yielded

many

commissioned from Greek craftsmen,

be fur and embroidered

specifying that they should be execu

ted "in the Scythian style".

trimmed

designs.
They
boots, strapped

with

wear
soft,
short
at the ankle, and

pointed, hood-like caps. They are

frequently portrayed bearing arms:
short

have

examples of the precious metalware

objects
which
wealthy
Scythians

what

are

appears to

or

which

swords,

bows

and

arrows

A final group of metal objects

appears to depict some of the Scy
thian

divinities

encountered

in

the

carried in a case suspended from their

pages
of
Herodotus.
Thus,
for
example, one gold plaque (a horse's

belts, spears, battle-axes and shields.

decorated frontlet or forehead

In a number of cases, they wear metal

ment) from the Tsymbalka kurgan

shows what appears to be the goddess

helmets and armour.

The Greek craftsmen responsible

for these portraits were extremely

familiar with their subjects, and this

knovyledge is reflected in the smallest
details

of

the

figures,

scenes and

All the objects we have mentioned

were produced largely in the fourth

B.C.,

occupied
around

the

the

Apia in the form of a serpent-woman;

while the legendary hero Targitaus
is shown
on

in combat with a monster

bronze

crest found in the Bliz-

nitsa Slopovskaya kurgan.

The outstanding discoveries which

compositions.

century

orna

when
whole

northern

the
of

Scythians
the

coast

of

area
the

Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and

when their kings were at the zenith of

marked the dawn of Russian archaeo

logy

were

followed

by others.

In

very recent years, excavations in the

kurgans of the Ukrainian steppes have

yielded jewellery similar to that found
at Kul Oba, Chertomlyk and Solokha.
Will there be more finds?

It is hard

the impressive royal tombs discovered

to say but it is more than likely that

the earth still hides the key to further
episodes in the history of the ancient
Scythians.

in the vicinity of the Dnieper rapids.

Yaroslav V. Domansky

their power and wealth.

This was the period when they built

49

UNESCO

BOOKS

El

BOOKSHELF
AND

UD

PERIODICALS

Planning for Satellite Broad

casting: The Indian Instructio
nal Television
Experiment,
by
Romesh

nik.

Chander

("Reports

mass

and

and

Kiran

Kar-

papers

communication"

on

series,

No. 78) 1976, 71 pp. (8 F).

de

Souza

and

Lucia

Ribeiro.

(No. 18 in the International Bureau

of

Education's

innovations

"Experiments

in

education"

language family
We have pleasure in recalling to rea
ders that the Russian language edition
of the "Unesco Courier", published in
Moscow,

Youth
Participation
in
the
Development
Process: a case
study in Panama, by Luis A. Go
mez

The big 'Unesco Courier'

and

series)

celebrates

its

20th

anniver

sary at the end of December 1976.

The
first edition to be published outside

Unesco's headquarters (in January 1957)

the Russian language edition has since
been followed by eleven other editions:
German (Berne, September 1960) Arabic

(Cairo,

November 1960) Japanese (To

1976, 101 pp. (12 F).

kyo, April 1961) Italian (Rome, January

Some Aspects of Cultural Po

licy in Togo, by K.M. Aithnard.
1976, 101 pp. (12 F); Cultural
Policy in the Republic of Zaire,
a study prepared under the direc
tion of Dr. Bokonga Ekanga Botombele. 1976, 119 pp. (14 F).
(Both
published
in
Unesco's

dras July 1967) Hebrew (Jerusa

lem, September 1968) Persian (Teheran,
May 1969) Dutch (Antwerp) and Portu
guese (Rio de Janeiro both October
1972) and Turkish (Istanbul, May 1973).

1963) Hindi (New Delhi) and Tamil (Ma

"Studies

and

Documents

on

Cultural Policies" series).

The

Use

of

Socio-economic

Schooling in the mother ton

gue in a multilingual environ
ment is the major theme of Pros
pects, Unesco's quarterly review
of education (Vol. VI, No. 3, 1976).

Bold

F;

New

annual

subs

Architecture

in

the Historical Site of the Vatican

and Three Museums Cope with

Tourism

seum,

are

the

themes

of

Mu

Unesco's quarterly on mu-

seography

(Vol.

tan) and Catalan (Barcelona, Spain) will

begin publication early in 1977, thus

bringing the total

number" of language

editions in which the "Unesco Courier" is

Indicators in Development Plan

ning.
Eight papers discussed at
2 Unesco meetings (at University
of Sussex, U.K. and in Bangkok,
Thailand) 1976, 282 pp. (40 F).

Each issue 9.50

cription 32 F.

Two new editions Urdu (Karachi, Pakis

XXVIII,

*2,

published monthly to 1 7.
The possibility
of launching a Kiswahili language edition
in Kenya or Tanzania is at present under

Death of Alexander Calder

study.

The
American
sculptor
Alexander
Calder,
one of the great figures of
20th-century art, died in New York on
11 November 1976 at the age of 78.
He was world-famous for the moving
sculptures, or mobiles, which he began

What do you know

about Unesco?
Why not visit Unesco at its headquar
ters

in

Paris

and

learn

more

about

its

to

create

mental

in

1932

and

motionless

for the

monu

"stabiles"

he began

1950s.

His works

history and its wide range of activities in

to

education, culture, science and commun

now stand in public buildings and open '

spaces
throughout
the
world.
A
32-foot-high steel mobile called "Spi
rale" (see photo) by Alexander Calder
has been an outstanding feature of the
piazza at Unesco's Paris headquarters

ications? Free information programmes

consisting of general or specialized talks,
a discussion period and film projections
are offered in most languages to young
people, adults and professional, cultural
and social groups.
Further details are

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subscription 60 F.

Centre, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75700

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telephone 577-16-10,

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Visitors'

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OTHER

The

BOOKS

World

Health

Organization

received about $ 83 million to eradicate

The Diploma Disease: Educa

smallpox n the world while the cost of

tion, Qualification and Develop

a single strategic bomber is $ 88 million

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says the U.N.

"Development Forum"
in an article pointing out the current

by

Ronald Dore. Allen and

Unwin Ltd., London, 1976, 214 pp.

( 5.95).

Imbalance

Ecological
the

Second

Consequences
Indochina

War.

of

collaboration
1976,

119

Reaping
tion:

with

Almqvist

International,

Food

pp.
the

(Sw.

and

Stockholm.

kr.

Green

The

76.50).

A Richer Harvest: New Horizons

of

Lars Lindgren. Liber Frlag, Stock

holm. 1976, 173 pp.
Environmentalism,
by T. 0'
Riordan.
Published by Pion Ltd.,
London; distributed by Academic
Press,

London

1976, 373 pp.

and

New

York.

to

contribute

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this

international

cam

paign.
Featuring the face of the "Lady
of Carthage" from a Roman mosaic,
on

the

reverse

side

the

"Horse

man of Douimes" from a Punic coin, the

medal is the latest in a series issued by

Unesco in support of its international
campaign
for
monuments,
including
Venice, Moenjodaro and Philae.
The
Carthage medal, available in gold (455

for

Education

celebrates

Its

25th anniver

Ghana
recently
launched Its first
rural newspaper, a fortnightly published
in the Ewe language, as a joint project
of

Unesco

Education

and

of the

the

Institute

of Adult

University of Ghana.

An International convention prohibi

ting the killing or capturing of polar bears
(today less than 20,000 survive) has
come into effect after ratification by
Canada, Denmark, Norway, U.S.A. and
U.S.S.R.

French francs) silver (135 F) and bronze

47 universities now give degrees in

film-making according to "The Educa

(60

tion of the Film-maker, an international

F),

can be ordered through banks,

numismatic dealers or directly from the

view", co-published by the Unesco Press

Unesco

and

Philatelic

Service,

Fontenoy, 75700 Paris.

50

Institute

sary this year.

and,

The Gypsies in Sweden: A

Socio-Medical
Study, by John

Unesco

education,

Unesco has issued a medal to comme

assistance

world

for Carthage

morate its programme for the preser

vation of Carthage and to enable people

the

of

Unesco medal

and Jobs for All and

with

allocation

n Hamburg (Fed.
Rep. of Germany)
currently studying problems of lifelong

Revolu

for
Developing
Countries,
by
Sudhir Sen. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York ($ 10.95 each).

Takman

the

Pu

blished by Stockholm International

Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in
Wiksell

in

resources.

Place

de

the

American

Washington.

Film

Institute

in

Unesco Courier Index 1976

January

(J. Bain D'Souza). Housing la carte (Y. Friedman). The uprooted. A man's
home is his castle (Photos). Hong Kong: the most urban place on earth.

OUR SPLIT BRAIN. (V. L. Deglin). The hungry brain (E. A. Shneour). The
first 4 months of life before birth (Photos). New machines to explore the

(D. Behrman). Art treasures: Goddess of harvests (U. S. S. R.).

July

brain (J. M. R. Delgado). Art treasures: Ritual bucket (Iraq).

AMERICA'S SPIRIT OF 1776. (H. S. Commager). Americans as they see the

February

U.S.

(R.

W.

Winks).

Nobel

laureates of literature.

Thomas Jefferson and

Benjamin Franklin. About the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Paine's

THE SEARCH FOR CULTURAL IDENTITY. The Angry Young Men of

Oceania (A. Wendt). African art, where the hand has ears (A. Hampt B).
African arts take the high road away from Western art (M. Wahba). Children
of the whale (Y. Rytkheou). Three in one: Latin America's racial and cultural
originality
(A.
Uslar-Pietri).
Art treasures: Statuette of ancestor-spirit

"Common

Sense"

(B.

Bailyn).

Citizen

Paine

(J. Janssens)

Colour pages.

Making of the Statue of Liberty (Photos). A living heritage of cultures and

peoples (Y. L. Wong and H. C. Shore). Private philanthropy in the American

(Ghana).

arts. The state as patron of the arts (N. Hanks). U.S.A.: the continuing
revolution (W. W. Davenport). Art treasures: Youth with a rose (U. S. A.).

March

August-September
DESTINATION

UNESCO'S FIRST THIRTY YEARS. Unesco's early years (J. Huxley).

Julian Huxley (P. de Berrdo Carneiro). A philosophy for Unesco (J. Huxley).
50-question

(A.-M.

quiz on Unesco.

M'Bow).

Roots

Unesco and the world outlook for tomorrow

of a

growing world crisis. Art treasures: Nefertari

THE

April
WORLD

VOYAGE

OF

DISCOVERY

AROUND

THE

October

(Egypt).

THE

UNESCO:

WORLD. 68-page comic strip issue on some of the major problems Unesco
has tackled during the last 30 years. By J.-M. Clment and Safoura Asfia.

SEARCH

FOR

NEW

WORLD

ECONOMIC

ORDER.

(T.

Bratteli

and S. Amin). Arsenic and old plates (I. Selimkhanov). Brancusi (B. Brezianu). Ren Maheu (P. de B. Carneiro). "La Civilisation de l'Universel"

OF HUMOUR. Humour across frontiers (G. Mikes). Gabrovo:

Bulgaria's capital of humour (B. Gerasimov). "Worm Runner's Digest" (J.

McConnell). Nasrudin Hodja (I. Sop). The world will never die if it dies

(R. Maheu). International cultural centre

treasures: head on the jar lid (Ethiopia).

laughing (Y. Boriev). The political and satirical cartoon (I. Tubau). Chinese
humour (K. M. Schipper). Art treasures: Man with a skin of clay (Ecuador).

November

May

EXPLORING THE NEW SOUNDSCAPE (R. M. Schafer). Rock, pop and rising
decibels (I. Bontinck and D. Mark). Tuning in to the past (D. Lowenthal).

EARTHQUAKE! Can we prevent earthquake disasters? (E. M. Fournier

d'Albe). Deadliest earthquakes of the century. Tragedy in Guatemala (Photos).

in

Burgundy

(P.

Ouanns).

Art

Insect "wings of song" (Photos). Early man goes through the speech barrier
(A. A. Leontyev). Sound sculptures. Psychoanalysis of sound (P. Ostwald)
Art treasures: Siren-borne candlestick (Hungary).

China predicts a major earthquake (D. Behrman). Ancestor of all seismographs.

Earthquake in Pagan, Burma (P. Pichard). San Francisco's coming earthquake

(K. V. Steinbrugge). Man-made earthquakes. Earthquakes in history (. N.

December

Ambraseys). Earthquake "signatures". Tsunamis (R. Fenton). International

warning system. Atlantis a Mediterranean island? Art treasures: Neolithic
Head (Yugoslavia).

THE SCYTHIANS (B. B. Piotrovsky). Horsemen of the steppes (Y. Domansky). Scythian art and myths (D. S. Raevsky). Archaeological finds
in the Ukraine (I. Artemenko, V. Bidzilia, B. Mozolevsky, V. Otroshchenko).
Splendours of Scythian art (colour pages). Frozen tombs of Pazyryk (M. P.
Zavitukhina). Graves of men and horses in the Sayan mountains (M. Griaz-

June

HABITAT. Habitat and the quality of life (G. Fradier). A third of the world
in shantytowns (S. Chamecki). Squatter-builders (J. F. C. Turner). The

tovsky).

architect: a modern scapegoat (F. A. Novikov). The needy left out in the cold

Art treasures: St. Christopher (Greece).

nov). Scythian mythology and folklore (G. M. Bongard-Levin and E. A. GranThe Ossetes, 20th century heirs of ancient Scythia (V. I. Abaev).

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51

Siberian art treasures

preserved in ice

for 2,500 years

Five centuries

before the

Christian

Era,

nomad

artist of the

steppes in the Altai region of Siberia (to the southwest of Lake

Baikal) sculpted this superb animal motif in wood.
It depicts a
griffin a mythical winged beast of prey -with a stag's head in its
jaws.
The stag's horns and ears and the griffin's crest are
fashioned from leather, and on the mythical monster's neck two

tiny griffins are shown attacking a goose.

This ornament
(35 cm. high) was discovered in a frozen tomb at Pazyryk, in the
Altai mountains, in 1949 (see article page 31).
Photo C Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad